Mimicry
by MayaAlexia
Summary: A shapeshifting ghost named Mimic has left her lair for the first time in almost a decade, and she’s taken an interest in Amity Park’s ghostly defender. Meanwhile, Danny’s problems with Valerie are only getting worse.
1. Meeting Mimic

_**NOTE TO ALL:**__ First off, if I get loads of stuff wrong, it's because I've never been to America and I don't know much about your schools, slang, etc. So, I'm sorry, and if you spot any major mistakes, please tell me so I can try and correct them. I am given to understand that own characters are not always popular, but hopefully Mimic isn't too bad. I have tried; please tell me what you think.__**EDIT:**__ looking through this, I've found a couple of typos. I've corrected what I've found, but let me know if you spot any that I've missed._

_**DISCLAIMER:**__ Danny Phantom belongs to Butch Hartman and Nickelodeon, not me. Mimic is mine though, for all that that's worth._

**MIMICRY**

**CHAPTER ONE:** _Meeting_ _Mimic _

A teenage ghost emerged from her lair for the first time in almost nine years. She had very pale blue skin, bright green hair, and glowing green eyes. Her name was Mimic, and she gazed around the Ghost Zone with a sigh. It had been so long since she had stepped out of her own personal part of it, and she had almost forgotten what it looked like. Looking around now, she felt it wasn't worth the bother of leaving her lair: Just a bunch of doors floating in swirling green space. But she couldn't stay in her lair forever...

'Hi. I haven't been out in a couple of years, who are you?' She called cheerfully to the first ghost she encountered: a large, muscular-looking man with flaming green hair. He looked at her curiously, and introduced himself. 'I am Skulker, the Ghost Zone's greatest hunter. Who are you?' Mimic ignored the question, instead choosing to interrogate Skulker about what had happened in the past few years. He sighed. 'Alright, girl, but it's a long story...'

'...So you're saying there's some... uh, 'halfa' called Phantom who everyone hates because he's preventing you from wreaking havoc in the human zone?' Mimic asked, after sieving out the useful information from Skulker's boasts. Her mind was racing. _A__ '__halfa__'? __ Impossible__, surely__. And one that wanted to __protect__ humans?_ A thought hit her like a ten-ton mental rock. _Maybe_...

'Hm. Perhaps I ought to talk to this _Phantom_ guy...' she said thoughtfully. Skulker laughed. 'Are you joking girl? You want to _talk_ to the Ghost Child? That's the craziest idea I've heard in my afterlife. Hunt him, kill him, recruit him, imprison him, I've heard all of those, but... _talk_ to him? That's a new one. You'd be back in the Ghost Zone before you'd even opened your mouth, girl.' He sniggered. Really, the girl was crazy. Go to all the effort of getting into the human realm, just to try and talk to the whelp? Why would you want to, anyway?

Mimic glared at Skulker, irritated by the hunter-ghost's attitude. 'Sure, I might just get myself battered and sucked up by that... thermos... you mentioned. But I can do something you can't, Skulker. It's not a particularly dangerous power, but it is useful.' Mimic told him, grinning. Skulker's brow furrowed, not sure what the strange ghost was getting at. Mimic, still smirking, closed her eyes, and focused hard on Skulker, on his shape and voice, forcing her ectoplasmic form to restructure itself in his image. Once she was done, Skulker's jaw dropped. _Had she just turned into __him?_ He'd seen morphing before, of course; he'd met both Bertrand and Amorpho. But it was still unusual, and he hadn't been expecting it from the strange new ghost.

Mimic-Skulker opened her eyes again and widened her grin. 'Phantom will talk to me, Skulker. Because I can be anybody.' She told him using his voice. And then, purely because she couldn't resist, she added: 'They call me Mimic for a reason... _whelp_.'

* * *

Danny Fenton, the human half of Danny Phantom, closed his schoolbook with a sigh. He finally had a ghost-free night to finish all his homework in, and he didn't understand any of it. He put the book in his schoolbag and flopped onto the bed. So far, no ghost attacks, so maybe, just maybe, he might be able to get a decent night's sleep for once. Or so he had been hoping, until his ghost-sense went off.

He changed into Danny Phantom with a groan, and floated out through his wall into the empty street beyond. He flew higher into the sky, searching for the ghost he knew had to be there, somewhere. But the spectre failed to appear, and although Danny spent the night searching, he still hadn't found it when the sun rose high over Amity Park. He searched a little longer, then flew back to his room to where his alarm clock was just about to go off and changed back into Danny Fenton. He dressed himself, and wandered downstairs for something to eat, his mind focused on the elusive ghostly intruder he had been searching for without success.

His ghost-sense went off again after he had handed in the homework he had completed before his evening had been so rudely interrupted. He sighed, and raised his hand. 'Can I help you, Mr. Fenton?' Lancer asked as he looked up from the book he'd been reading to the class. 'I... don't feel well, Sir. Can I go to the nurse's office?' Lancer narrowed his eyes at Danny slightly. 'Mr. Fenton, you've asked to go to the nurse's office three times this week, but when I mentioned it to the nurse, she said she hadn't seen you. I trust you will actually be going to the nurse's office this time?' Danny gulped. Lancer would check with the nurse later, and then he would be in so much trouble... but he had to get that ghost! 'Yes sir. Sorry sir. Can I go now?' he asked nervously. Mr. Lancer sighed and nodded. Danny left the classroom quickly, and as soon as he was alone, allowed two white rings to pass over his body, transforming him into Phantom, ghostly defender of Amity Park, USA.

But the ghost was, once again, nowhere to be found. Wondering if his ghost-sense was malfunctioning, Danny returned to class. 'Feeling better, Mr. Fenton?' asked Lancer, sceptically. Danny nodded, and slid into his seat, only to have a note shoved at him instantly by Sam. He unfolded it. _Didn't take you long. Was it the box ghost again?_ She had written. _I don't think there even was a ghost. That's the second time my ghost-sense has gone off and there was nothing there. Talk at lunch, Ok?_ He scribbled, and chucked the note to her when Lancer wasn't looking. She nodded, and they both went back to work.

Mimic watched a confused-looking Phantom fly back into the school. She was currently in the shape of a human girl: the girl she had been before she died. She had short, curly brown hair that was at least an inch or so short of her shoulders, and large blue-grey eyes. She was a tall, skinny girl around fourteen or fifteen, and wore a plain blue t-shirt and black trousers with dark blue trainers. A grey bag was slung over her left shoulder, and she was currently staring at the entrance to Casper high, a plan forming in her mind.

She duplicated herself twice, and morphed the two duplicates into a tall, skinny man with brown hair and glasses and a somewhat shorter woman with blonde curls, both in their mid-thirties. Mimic and her duplicates entered the school, and the male duplicate marched up to the receptionist's desk. S/he smiled warmly at the young woman behind it, while the real Mimic quickly tried to think what to say.

'Good morning, my name is Jason Tanner and this is my wife, Louise.' Mimic-Jason gestured towards the other duplicate, (_AN__: The duplicates are now called Jason and Louise, because it's easier.__ This includes any appearances the two might make in future chapters!_) who nodded a greeting. 'I'm here to enrol our daughter in your school. This is...' The duplicate stopped, as Mimic tried to think of a name quickly. Unable to think of one, and with the secretary giving 'Jason Tanner' an odd look, she settled for the name she'd had before her death: she may have hated it, but at least she was familiar with it. '...This is my little Antoinette. Can we speak to the principal, please?' The secretary smiled, and told them that, while the principal was currently very busy, the vice-principal would be with them as soon as he could, and would they have a seat while they waited? The Mimics nodded and sat down.

Danny Fenton's stomach churned as he heard an all-too-familiar voice behind him. 'Hey Fentoad!' Dash shouted from the other end of the corridor, sneering. Danny considered fleeing, but the bell would ring soon, and running away would just make him late. He resigned himself to his fate, and that is why Danny Fenton, known to a select few as Danny Phantom, missed the arrival of the new girl.

Had Danny been there, he would have realised that something about her wasn't quite right. Mimic, slightly nervous about going back to school (of all places!) after having been dead for ten years, had very briefly phased through the floor. To anyone who didn't deal with ghosts on a daily basis, it would have been unnoticeable: just a slight dip in her height for a second as she sunk an inch through the floorboards. Danny, however, _did_ deal with ghosts on a daily basis, and had experienced similar problems to those Mimic was having when he first got his powers, and, on a few occasions, when he was nervous. Had he been there, his ghost-sense would have gone off, and because of that he would have paid close attention to the person who had just entered the room. He would have seen her sink into the floor, he would have pieced it together and Mimic would've been back in the Ghost Zone before she could say 'Skulker Sucks!'. But Danny was not there. Instead, he was stuck in his locker, and Mimic-Antoinette would be being far more careful now. After all, if she wanted to do this, getting discovered early would cause chaos.

'Get a grip, Mimic... remember why you're here...' she told herself quietly as Lancer introduced her to the class. When told to take a seat, she scanned the room for Phantom's human form, and a few seconds later, half-annoyed, half-relieved not to have found him, she settled instead for sitting behind Sam Manson, one of the humans Skulker had described as Phantom's friend. She needed to befriend Danny before she could talk to him, and it was just possible Sam Manson and Tucker Foley would help her.

Danny, having just escaped from his locker, shivered and gasped; his breath becoming blue for a moment. 'Oh, great...' he muttered, breaking into a run. 'Goin' ghost!' he shouted, transforming into his ghostly alter ego and phasing through the ceiling. He flew high above the town, performing an aerial search for the ghostly problem, but couldn't see anything. He turned invisible and intangible, performing a quick search of the school, the mall and other places the ghost might be, but found nothing. He returned to school, becoming Fenton again, just in time for the second half of his lesson. As he entered the classroom, his ghost-sense went off for the fourth time that day. That would mean the ghost was in the school, but where? Feeling irritated, and convinced that his powers were playing up, Danny decided he'd just have to wait and see. Apparently, he'd missed the arrival of the new girl. What was her name again? Anita? Antonia? Annette? Whoever she was, Sam would fill him in later.

The next few days continued in much the same way: his ghost-sense would go off, but when he went to search for the paranormal problem, at least ¾ of the time it wasn't there. Oh, sure; he'd found a couple of the usual subjects: The Box Ghost, Skulker, Desiree... but the fact remained that most of the time, it went off and there simply wasn't a ghost to be found. He didn't understand why his ghost-sense was going haywire, especially around Antoinette, who definitely breathed and had a pulse. (That had been really embarrassing: how do you explain to a girl you've barely even met that you want to check her vital signs? He could hardly tell her he wanted to see if she was a ghost.) He'd told Tucker and Sam, and they'd eventually decided that she seemed friendly enough, but to be on high alert all the same. A few weeks had passed since then, and he was beginning to think it must be a problem with his powers: Antoinette was just too... human.

Apart from his 'malfunctioning' ghost-sense, Danny felt life was looking up. There had been fewer ghost attacks lately, even if his ghost-sense had been going nuts, and his education was feeling the benefit of his increased study-time and sleep. And he was beginning to kind of like Antoinette, as well. She was new to Amity Park as well as Caspar High, and she and Sam got on like a house on fire (well, after a few misunderstandings). Pretty soon, she was part of their group, and although he hadn't liked her much at first, he had come to like her and now Danny enjoyed her company almost as much as Sam and Tucker's. She was funny, and what's more, she believed in Phantom's innocence without fawning over him. (Danny had started to get sick of fan girls mooning after him because he was famous, and it was relief to find someone who liked him for saving the town rather than his looks/fame.)

Danny, contemplating all of this, was interrupted by a shout. 'Danny!' called Sam, approaching with Tucker and Antoinette. Danny beamed. 'Hey guys. What's up?' Tucker's face split into a grin. 'You should've seen it, Dude. It was hilarious.' Danny gave Tucker an odd look. 'What was hilarious?' Sam rolled her eyes. 'Paullina and Valerie were fighting over you. Paullina was going on about you being a 'major loser', and Valerie sorta stood up for you. Then someone brought up Phantom, and you know who Paullina and Val feel about him. So, another massive argument over y- Uh, Phantom, until Tucker burst out laughing, and they all stopped to shout at him instead.' Danny grinned. It was kind of funny, after all. Paullina liked Phantom and hated Fenton, and Val had the same feelings, but reversed. Neither knew that Fenton _was_ Phantom, of course. Ah, Irony.

He suddenly remembered that his newest friend would have no idea why this would seem funny, and snuck a look at her. As soon as she saw him looking, Mimic made an 'I-have-no-idea-what-this-is-about' gesture. He made a mental note to apologise to her about all this if he ever told her his secret, although with the ghost-sense thing he wasn't sure he ever would. 'Guys, you're confusing Antoinette.' He said, gesturing towards her. Tucker and Sam, having just remembered that Antoinette didn't know, looked sheepish, and Mimic's brow furrowed even more. 'You've got that right, Danny.' She said innocently. 'I really have no idea why that's funny.' She smiled, lying through her teeth. After all, Mimic had known about Danny's secret from the very start.

Mimic-Antoinette was pondering her next move. Did Danny trust her enough yet? She couldn't talk to him if he didn't, he'd just kick her into the Ghost Zone. Of course, she could return: take on another shape, try again. But Danny wasn't stupid. He'd have realised she was the reason his ghost-sense had been going off when there was _supposedly_ no ghost. And when it started happening again, he wouldn't be taken in. She needed Phantom to trust her. When Skulker had told her about Amity Park's ghostly hero, she had known exactly what she wanted to do. But she needed his trust, or she wouldn't be able to do anything. And now that she'd finally found something she really wanted to do, for the first time since she'd died, she didn't want to mess up.

Mimic's friendship with Danny grew over the next few weeks, and finally, she deemed the time to be ripe. She rung him late one evening and told her it was urgent he meet her the next day, early morning, alone. Danny had reluctantly agreed (knowing that getting up early meant less sleep) although he had said 'It had better be really urgent, Antoinette.' Mimic had sighed. 'It is, Danny. Really.'

True to his word, Danny arrived early next morning outside the house Antoinette had told him was hers. He had been surprised when he saw it; it was, quite frankly, a ruin. _Antoinette lives here?_ He thought to himself. _Apparently_ _so_, he added when she emerged from the house. His ghost-sense went off, but when didn't it go off around her? Antoinette smiled widely, but there was another emotion on her face he didn't recognise. She took another step towards him, a thousand thoughts rushing through her mind at once. It all depended on him...

Had she not been dead for the past ten years, she'd have taken a deep breath to calm her nerves. Okay, so she _had_ been breathing lately, but only because it was somewhat expected of her. She looked Danny steadily in the eyes, and cleared her throat.

'You know Danny, I've been wanting to talk to you ever since I heard about you.' she said. Danny gave her a quizzical look. 'You have?' he asked, unsure how to react. _Why would she want to talk to Danny Fenton?_ Mimic nodded, not quite trusting herself to speak. This was the crucial part, after all. And Murphy's Law had a nasty habit of turning up at times like this. _What can go wrong, will go wrong_, she thought. _Here_ _goes everything_...

Still looking him dead in the eyes, she sighed. 'Hello, Danny Phantom.'

* * *

_AN: Sorry about the cliffhanger. What do you think so far? I'll try and update quickly, I'm a relatively fast writer, and I've got the plot all done, so it should update in a few days. Thank you for reading this, and please review, because it's my first Fanfic ever and I'd like your advice. Flames are welcome, __because, quite frankly, if you're going to flame and I ask you not to, what are the chances you'll listen? Besides, I did ask for your honest opinion. __–__MayaAlexia_


	2. A Helping Hand?

_Here's chapter two! __Sciencefreak330, thank you for the review.__ I'm glad you like Mimic; hopefully you'll enjoy the rest of the story._

_To everyone else, I hope you're enjoying it too. If you're not, I'm sorry and could you please leave a review saying why? Any and all reviews welcome! Anyway, last time I left you with Mimic telling Danny she knew his secret, so I'll get on with the story. Thanks for reading! __**DISCLAIMER**__: If it was in the TV show, it's not mine._

**CHAPTER TWO: **_A Helping Hand?_

Danny instantly began to deny it. 'I don't know what you're talking about!' He protested. Mimic just shook her head. 'Danny, I know about your ghost half.' She told him. Realising that there was little point denying it, Danny gave in. 'Okay, It's true. I didn't want you to know, but it's true. I'm Danny Phantom. You won't... tell anyone, will you?' He asked her in a small, helpless voice. Mimic shook her head, and smiled widely at him. 'Danny, you aren't the only one with a secret. I'll tell you mine, but... Promise you won't freak out?' Danny gave her a slightly bemused look. Was this secret the reason his ghost-sense was going off around her? Mimic pouted, and he realised he hadn't promised her yet. He almost laughed, but instead, he nodded. 'I promise... although you're kind of worrying me here, Antoinette.' He said, whilst surreptitiously trying to prepare himself for fight or flight. Mimic half-smiled, and licked her dry lips. 'Danny.' She said, feeling more nervous than ever: what if he did decide to kick her out? 'I'm a ghost.'

Danny's reaction was immediate. He was in a battle stance, ready to transform the second he needed to. But suddenly he stopped. 'How can you be a ghost? You breathe. You have a pulse. That's why I didn't come after you before.' Antoinette's answer to this statement was to stop breathing, and to hold out her wrist so he could check her pulse. Cautiously, not taking his eyes off her, he placed his fingers on her wrist, expecting to feel the steady pump of blood.

Needless to say, he felt nothing. He snatched his hand back. 'So this was some kind of plot?' Antoinette shook her head. 'No, Danny. Well, it's a plot, yeah, but I don't want to fight you. You're... scary. Seriously, Danny. Skulker may not have said so, but I bet he has nightmares about you.' She laughed. Okay, so maybe she was exaggerating a little bit. But Danny was sortof scary, and Skulker probably wasn't as tough as he looked anyway... 'Or he would, if ghosts actually slept... huh, you'd think I'd get used to the idea after ten years...' Danny gave her an odd look. 'You've been dead ten years? No, wait, that's not really important. If you're a ghost, how come you look human?'Mimic sighed, although she had been expecting it. She let her hold on 'Antoinette' go, allowing her own shape to come to her, although they weren't much different, apart from the clothes and colours. Dark brown curls became electric blue flames; blue-grey eyes turned glowing neon green, tanned skin became pale blue, and gained a ghostly glow. Her sky-blue t-shirt turned black, with a pair of white angel wings printed on the front, and she was now wearing a dark blue knee-length skirt and black shoes. A turquoise bangle appeared on each wrist, and a bright cyan choker-style necklace at her throat. Transformation complete, Mimic watched Danny's reaction warily.

'I'm a shape-shifter, Danny. I can look like anyone. I'm a pretty good mimic too.' To demonstrate this, she spoke the next part in Sam's voice. 'That's how I got my name, actually. In the Ghost Zone, they call me Mimic, although I haven't been around the Ghost Zone much for the past nine years.' Danny, who had tensed when she borrowed Sam's voice, looked annoyed. 'Stop that. And why haven't you been seen in the Ghost Zone for so long?' Mimic adopted her own voice once again. 'Sorry, just proving my point. And I wasn't seen much 'cause I was sulking. A couple of months after I died, it just hit me, y'know? Well, you don't, but still. I was _Dead_, Danny. And I was _sixteen_. Sure, it was cool to change shape and all, and flying's fun, and having a ghostly lair was just awesome, because you can do anything you like with that place, but... I was DEAD. And so I hid in my lair, sulking. Kinda dumb, now I look back, but, what can I say?' Danny nodded slightly. What Mimic was saying hit a chord. He'd felt a bit like that after his accident in the lab. Mimic, sensing that perhaps Danny wasn't just going to waste her and send her back to the Ghost Zone, plunged in. 'Danny, the reason I came here. It wasn't to get you on my side, or anything like that. Skulker told me you were a hero here, and Danny...' He looked at her, not sure what to expect. 'I want to help you. I want to do something more worthwhile with my afterlife than sulking in my lair. I want to help.'

Danny was out flying to clear his head. He didn't know what to say to Mimic. She was a ghost, and she'd lied to him, and heck, maybe she still was. She might be Amorpho or Bertrand, playing some stupid game. But...

That was what it all came down to, in the end. The real reason he'd ignored his malfunctioning ghost-sense. She was just too _human_.

He'd met ghosts like her before, but only in the Ghost Zone, never in the human realm. Living -if that was the right word- normal 'lives', apart from the fact that they glowed, and didn't eat or sleep. Just _human_. Not particularly good or bad, human. Most ghosts 'changed': massive trauma can do that to a person, and dying is definitely traumatic. Plus you really did seem to need some kind of hold here to stay around: Skulker's hunting, Desiree's wish-granting, his own human side and heroics. But some ghosts seemed to be rooted in their own... humanity, or normalcy, or something. Whatever it was, they were steady enough to exist without any obvious obsession or desire. He wasn't sure how. Maybe it was strength of character or something. But whatever it was, they were more human than any other ghosts. Oh, they were weird alright, and they caused more than their fair share of problems in the human realm, and they were a long way from being totally human, but they were still closer than the others. Mimic wouldn't have been able to maintain her disguise that well had she been more... for want of a better word, ghostly. But she hadn't seemed ghostly much at all. Cheeky, and maybe a little too fond of a prank, but not _ghostly_. She had seemed alive. Maybe that was what kept them here- a desire to remain human. Hadn't she said something along those lines earlier? About hating having had to die? Maybe ghosts didn't have to be obsessed to exist. Maybe they just had to want to exist. Because he knew that, while Mimic might not have wanted to die, she'd have hated the idea of oblivion even more.

Did this mean he trusted her? She had lied, but in all honesty, could he blame her? If she'd turned up in ghost form he'd have kicked her from here to next Wednesday. And heck, what was he going to tell Sam and Tucker? What if she really was good, and they didn't trust her? Besides, it was Antoinette's- no, _Mimic's_secret and she might not want them to know. She'd kept his secret, after all. But... They were _Sam_ and _Tuck_. He couldn't keep something like that from them!

He just didn't know what to do. But he was saved from having to think about it further by the roaring of a jet board, and the whining of a charging ecto-gun. 'You're going down, Ghostboy!' shouted Valerie from behind her mask, and Danny sighed. The hunt was on.

Danny returned home, limping all the way. Damnit, she was getting better. A _lot_ better. She'd really been bugging him the past month, and his wounds were getting more serious after each encounter. _It's only a ma__t__ter of time before she does some real __damage, _he thought, bandaging his leg. _Pretty soon you're going to have to start fighting her instead of just running away. _Sighing, Danny put away his first aid kit and made up his mind. He was going to accept Mimic's help. And just maybe, he was going to get Valerie to see he wasn't evil.

Danny met Mimic in the park, and began to explain things to her. The biggest problem he could see with their plan so far was the fact that Danny Phantom still wasn't completely trusted by Amity Park yet, and they might not accept a new ghostly hero. Even the fan girls might object to it: Mimic was a girl, after all, and kind of pretty at that, and as soon as she appeared with Danny Phantom the rumour mill was going to be working overtime. Mimic had a suggestion, but it was kind of drastic.

Her idea was this: She was a shape-shifter, right? Well, why didn't she just shape-shift into Danny Phantom? They'd make some kind of alarm, and when there was a late-night ghost attack, or Danny had something important to do, he'd ring his alarm and it would alert Mimic, who'd change shape and fly off to deal with it for him. They quickly discovered she had most of his abilities anyway, and was close to him in power levels. She couldn't do the ghostly wail, or use his ice powers, but the shape-shifting gave her a definite advantage, and she quickly got the hang of acting like Danny. After all, mimicking people was kind of her thing. She would rather not have to be Phantom, but if it meant she got to stay here and mess about with her powers, she was all for it.

But would it work? And surely Tucker and Sam would notice if he didn't disappear every time there was a ghost attack, yet Danny Phantom still showed up? He could tell them, but Mimic had looked distraught when he suggested it: 'Danny, I know it's just a fantasy, but it's kind of nice to feel alive again, y'know? Like I'm not dead, like none of that ever happened. It was a tough time for me Danny, and I know I shouldn't, but it's so nice to live my life again, to be me again... to be Antoinette Tanner again. Please, Danny, don't tell them. If they knew... I... couldn't be human anymore. Don't take that away from me, Danny. Please.'

He really hadn't had the heart to say no. He felt bad, definitely: It made him feel almost physically ill, the idea of lying to Sam and Tuck. But Mimic -no, Antoinette, he decided- had looked so forlorn. So helpless. 'I'll understand if you tell them, Danny.' But he couldn't. She'd already lost her life once. What right did he have to take it away again? He of all people should understand the desire for normalcy. He didn't want to lie, but looking at Antoinette's bleak expression, he just couldn't bring himself to hurt her like that. What right did he have to take away the humanity she wanted so much?

Mimic had maybe exaggerated just a little bit. Her story was true, but it wasn't the _whole_ truth, as it were. She wanted to stay in the human world for the same reason any ghost did: it gave you energy, strength. Unlike other ghosts, she didn't see the point of terrorising the humans while she was here, and actually found it kind of annoying when humans automatically assumed she wanted to hurt them. So fighting off evil ghosts as 'Danny Phantom' wouldn't be too bad, as far as she was concerned. It gave her a 'get-out-of-the-Ghost-Zone-free' card with Danny, and it would be interesting to see if they could pull it off. She knew, after watching the way Sam and Tucker reacted to Valerie, that they were somewhat overprotective of Danny (who was even more overprotective of them) and that they probably wouldn't welcome her with open arms. Suspicion, maybe. And if Sam and Tucker got on her case, he would listen. He might not do anything, but the seeds of suspicion would be planted: something she definitely didn't want.

And anyway, it wasn't all a lie. She had gone into her lair in a sulk because she didn't want to be dead. But she had spent most of the past nine years shaping the lair, adjusting and perfecting it, (to the point that it was far more in tune with her than most ghosts' lairs are) not just sulking. She could remember all the disadvantages of being alive, and really, being a ghost was more fun. But... it was nice, to feel human again, so that had been true too. She hadn't really thought about it much, but now...

Yeah, helping Danny had its advantages. The chance to be human again was one of them.

And so it began. Whenever Danny sensed a ghost while he was in an important lesson, or in the middle of the night, Antoinette would go in his place. The ghosts quickly found out she was Mimic, not Phantom, but the people of Amity Park remained blissfully ignorant. Danny, for his part, hadn't felt this awake since he got his ghost powers: he was finally able to sleep uninterrupted, and he no longer missed tests when ghosts attacked. His grades and his mood rapidly improved. Antoinette, who didn't need sleep and had no issues with failing, (she figured it was a bit late to worry about grades now, ten years after she'd died) had no problems dealing with the ghosts when Danny needed her to, although she would sometimes call for his assistance with particularly tough opponents (carefully ensuring that there was no one around to see the two Danny Phantoms). In short, everything was going well.

Well, almost everything. When Sam and Tucker arrived in school that morning, they had a few questions for Danny. Sam cornered him by his locker at lunch. 'Danny.' She asked, face unreadable. 'How did you fight Skulker yesterday when _I know_ you were doing a test?' she asked, holding up a newspaper. Danny's heart leapt to his mouth and Antoinette looked sick. And then, to their intense relief, the bell rang.

'Gottagobyesamseeyoulater!' he called back, and disappeared faster than you could say 'Ghost!'.

_ I hope you liked this chapter, and again, please review. Valerie will play a more important role in this in the next few chapters, by the way. Thanks once again for reading, please review, even if you hated it__, I'd like to know why.__ I'll have the next chapter up soon: It's called Fights.__ –MayaAlexia_


	3. Fights

_Chapter three is here! I'm really pleased with the response I've been getting to this story, so hopefully you'll continue to enjoy it. I'll try and get the next chapter done ASAP, and as always, please review! To sciencefreak330 and DPcrazy, thanks for your reviews, they're much appreciated!_

_Here's where I left you last time:_

_'Danny.' She said, face unreadable. 'How did you fight Skulker yesterday when I know you were doing a test?' she asked, holding up a newspaper. Danny's heart leapt to his mouth and Antoinette looked sick. And then, to their intense relief, the bell rang. _

_'Gottagobyesamseeyoulater!' he called back, and disappeared faster than you could say 'Ghost!__'._

**CHAPTER THREE:**_ Fights_

'Danny, explain. Now.' Sam said, arms crossed, while Tucker held up a newspaper article. 'Have you split yourself again? You know how that turned out! What were you-' Danny raised a hand. 'I haven't split myself again, Sam. I just... uh... well, it's kind of a long story, but it starts with Antoinette.' He rubbed the back of his neck anxiously. He took a deep breath.

'Antoinette's-kind-of-a-ghost-but-she's-a-good-ghost-so-don't-get-mad!' he rushed out, barely pausing between the words. Sam's eyes widened. Tucker dropped the newspaper to stare at him.

'Antoinette's a _ghost_? And you didn't tell us?' Danny winced. 'Danny, what if she's lying to you? Ugh, you are so- so- _stupid_! You could get hurt, Danny! I mean, you're hardly popular in the Ghost Zone! How do you know she's not tricking you? Danny, I swear, you can be-'

At this point, Tucker interrupted Sam's rage, a thoughtful look on his face. 'But Dude, I thought you said she had a heartbeat? How does _that_ work?' he asked. Sam shot Tucker a brief death-glare, but stayed quiet, choosing to glower at Danny instead. 'She can... I don't know what she does, exactly, put she can fake having a pulse, and breathing. She's really a shape-shifter, a bit like Bertrand, but nicer... she's called Mimic.' Danny told them. 'That's how I've been at those fights and in lessons at the same time: Antoinette went to the ghost fight instead. She pretended to be me though, so that the Amity Park wouldn't freak over having a new ghost around town. I mean, some of the people here still don't like me much... I didn't want them to freak out...' He broke off, looking sheepish.

'She told me last week that she was... well, a ghost, and I didn't tell you because she asked me not to. I know I should've said, and I'm really sorry guys, but she just looked so... so _helpless_!' He looked at Sam imploringly. 'She was only sixteen and she never wanted to die and she just wants to help-' Tucker shook his head and held up a hand, signalling Danny to stop talking for a moment. 'Whoa, dude, you're babbling. I'm gonna look up this Mimic girl, okay? And with any luck, Sam won't kill you.' Tucker had a point: Sam looked furious. Danny gulped, looking panicked.

'Sam, she just wanted to feel normal again! She wanted to feel _human_ again, Sam, and she thought that if you knew she was a ghost she'd lose that. I just thought, well...' his flustered expression became unreadable. 'She's already lost her life once. What right do I have to take it away again?' he stopped talking, and looked at his gothic friend beseechingly. Sam's expression softened.

She punched him in the arm; relatively gently, but it still hurt. She sighed. 'Danny, what if she's lying? It doesn't take a lot to figure out that sometimes you wish you were all human again. What if she's using that _against_ you?' exasperated, she shook her head. 'She had us all fooled Danny, even with your ghost-sense going off around her. Who's to say she couldn't still be tricking us?' Her tone was gentler, but Danny was beginning to feel stupid nonetheless. However, at this point, a thought seemed to strike Sam, and her fierce look returned. She growled softly. '_When I see Antoinette_...'

Antoinette, at this point, had more pressing worries than Sam: most of them in the form of a certain red-suited huntress on a jet-sled. Valerie had _drastically_ improved since she first started ghost hunting, and since it was difficult to fight back without injuring the vengeful ghost hunter, Phantom (or Mimic-Phantom) generally ended up the worse for wear.

Mimic may not have been _entirely_ altruistic, but she didn't want to hurt Valerie, and anyway, she _was_ supposed to act like Phantom, who was known for running away when faced by the huntress. But, quite frankly, she was fed up of it. Why couldn't Valerie just back off? She was beginning to wonder how on earth Danny had put up with this for the past year or so.

_All the ghosts know,_ thought Mimic. _Would it really make that much of a difference if I told Valerie that I wasn't the ghost who 'ruined her life'? She might tell Amity Park, but really, we were never going to be able to keep up this charade forever. I'd have slipped up, Danny would've, __either way, __we'd have to tell the town eventually. Might as well be sooner than later, right?_

Having decided on her course of action, she stopped flying a few meters ahead of Valerie, and turned around. 'Hey Val? Can we talk?' she asked the surprised and wary girl.

'Why would you want to talk, _Ghost?_' Mimic rolled her eyes. 'Because we need to clear this up, _Human_. Come on, Val, I call you by your name, can't you call me by mine?' She stopped, realising that, actually, Valerie didn't know her name. 'Although... it is my name I wanted to talk about, I guess...'

The strange remark took Valerie by surprise, confusion evident behind her mask. Still holding her ecto-blaster, she coaxed her jet-sled a little closer to the ghost, wanting to know what it was talking about before blasting it to kingdom come. Mimic, realising that Valerie was willing to listen (to a certain extent), absent-mindedly crossed her legs beneath her and sat floating in midair.

_That's just__ creepy, _she thought, holding her fire... for now. 'What about your name, Gho... Uh, Phantom?' _Might as well humour it._The ghost shifted uncomfortably on its nonexistent seat. 'I'm not Phantom, Valerie. No matter how much I look... or act... like him.' Valerie raised an eyebrow behind her mask. _Right. '__C__ause that makes a heck of a lot of sense._

'What are you talking about, Gho... Phanto... Uh, whoever you are?' Mimic decided it would be easiest to show Valerie what she meant. She closed her eyes, and her white glow brightened and turned pale blue. Valerie stared as the shape and colour of the ghost in front of her began to shift and change, until it was no longer Phantom sat before her, but _herself_, dressed in her everyday clothes, still floating cross-legged in front of her.

Valerie nearly fell off her jet-sled.

'Wha... How?' She fired a few ectoblasts in rapid succession, but the... the thing that had been Phantom dodged them calmly. It smiled grimly. 'I'm a shape shifter ghost, Valerie. Since this form obviously makes you uncomfortable, I'll switch to my own shape.' The blue glow returned, and a pale-skinned, green-eyed ghost girl around her age appeared before her.

_She looks familia__r. She reminds me of someone, but who? Kind of like Phantom, actually, he reminds me of someone too..._ Valerie abandoned this line of thought in favour of charging her ectogun and pointing it at the ghost. 'Why were you shaped like Phantom a minute ago?' The ghost grinned.

'A fair question. Phantom has other things to do than protect the town, Val. So when he's busy, I fill in.' Valerie laughed bitterly at that. 'Phantom doesn't _protect_ the town, ghost.' She paused, frowning slightly. 'What 'other things' does he have to do, anyway?' The ghost rolled its eyes.

'I'm Mimic, in case you're interested. And you'd be surprised what other things Phantom has to do. I'll let the 'He-doesn't-protect-the-town' thing slide, for now, but we'll come back to that later.' Valerie glared at her.

'Mimic? Creative.' She snickered slightly at the ghost's affronted expression. 'Why do you help Phantom?' Mimic shot her an annoyed look before replying. 'Like 'Red Huntress' is any better. You're a ghost hunter, and you wear a red suit. _Creative_.' She spoke the last word in Valerie's voice, mostly to spite the girl on the jet-sled. Then she sighed, remembering the problem in hand.

'I help Phantom because someone _should_ help him. He's... a good kid. And so are you. Well, once you get over the misguided, vengeful psychopath part.' Valerie shot a blast at her, furious. 'I am not a psychopath, Ghost!' Mimic dodged the shot, an alarmed look on her face. 'Sorry, sorry! You're right; you aren't a psychopath... yet. Just obsessed.' She looked thoughtful for a moment. 'That's unhealthy, by the way. You should talk it over with a doctor, kid, I'm sure it'd help.' Valerie glowered at her.

'Don't call me kid. You don't look much older than me anyway.' The red-suited girl told the ghost irritably. Mimic, obviously amused, grinned at her. 'I've existed ten years longer than you have, Val. If I was alive, I'd be twenty-four. I can call you kid if I want.' She replied. 'What do you say we go somewhere else to talk this out? I'm getting tired of floating.' And with that, she stood and stretched in midair, making sure Valerie was following before flying away.

A few minutes later, on top of a skyscraper, Valerie sat on her jet-sled and turned to face the ghost, who was happily sitting on the edge of the roof, legs dangling over the side of the building. For a minute or so, neither of them spoke, but Valerie, uncomfortable, decided to break the silence.

'Phantom's not a good kid. He ruined my life.' Said the ghost hunter, tetchily. Mimic turned her head so that she was facing Valerie. 'Did he?' she asked, giving Valerie an inquiring look. 'Can you honestly say you were that happy when you were rich? With your fake friends who dumped you like last season's t-shirt?' she questioned. Valerie said nothing, mostly because she couldn't think of anything to say. She hadn't thought of it like that...

Her thoughts were interrupted by the ghostly teen. 'It was an accident, you know.' Said the ghost girl, staring into the middle distance. 'That ghost dog kept escaping from the ghost-zone, trying to find its chew toy. The toy was at axiom labs, and Danny –Phantom, that is- was trying to get it back so that he would go home.' She paused, thinking back to what Danny had told her about Valerie.

'And blowing up your old suit? It was being controlled by a ghost, Valerie. Think about it: He knew who you were, didn't he? He was _always_ calling you Val. So when he saw you battling your own suit... he knew you weren't inside it. He'd _never_ have blown it up if you were wearing it.' What else had happened? Ah, yes. Danny had told her that the suit had done some kind of weird self destruct. 'He didn't make it go kaboom, either. It did that of its own accord: Phantom saw numbers counting down on the mask, and got out of the way just before it blew up.' She stopped again, and gave the other girl a stern look. 'Although, can you blame him if he _had_ blown it up? He's got a tough enough job trying to save the town without _you_ on his tail. It was an ideal way to stop you hunting him without hurting you. Didn't work, though...' She gestured towards Valerie's jet-sled. Valerie didn't say anything. Really, what was there to say?

'How come he revealed my secret to my Dad, then?' she asked, after a couple of minutes of uncomfortable (for Valerie) silence. Mimic tilted her head to one side for a moment before answering. 'He was the only one who could've beaten Pariah Dark, you know.' She said simply. It wasn't a question, or an opinion, but a statement. A fact. Valerie shifted slightly on her jet sled.

'You wouldn't have stood a chance. Don't take offence, it's the truth. And the battle suit would've killed you.' She was staring into thin air again, meditatively. 'It nearly killed _him_, and _he's_ already dead.' _Not entirely true, but she doesn't know that._ 'You would've died in that thing, Val. And then Amity Park would've been taken over by the Ghost King. You want that?' she paused. 'Sure, Danny could've stopped you from using the suit some other way, but...'

Sounding slightly exasperated, she explained Phantom's actions. 'Val, he's got the mind of a teenage boy. Teenagers don't always think before they act... Did _you_ think, before trying to blast him out of the sky?' she asked. Valerie didn't answer. 'Did _I_ think, before... never mind. Point I'm trying to make, Valerie, is that he was panicking and it was the only thing he could think to do. He didn't want to hurt you, Val. He never has. And,' here, the ghost broke off, and looked Valerie directly in the eyes, glowing ectoplasmic green meeting teal. 'He never will. Okay?'

Valerie stared at her feet, thoughts churning. If all of that was true, then Phantom really was the good guy. _And I've been trying to destroy him..._

Mimic sighed. 'I've got better places to be, Valerie. See you around, hopefully without being shot at.' The ghost morphed into Phantom and flew off, leaving Valerie to her thoughts.

Mimic changed back into Antoinette in the girls' bathroom, and stuffed her unused Fenton thermos back into her bag. She left the toilets and wandered around the corner to the cafeteria, only to be confronted by a nervous looking Danny and an absolutely furious looking Sam. She paled.

'...She knows?' Antoinette asked nervously, looking from Danny to Sam to Danny again. Danny nodded. Sam narrowed her eyes. 'You have a lot of explaining to do, _Mimic_.' She hissed. Antoinette gulped.

'I just wanted to help Danny...' she said, trying her hardest to look as apologetic as possible. Hopefully, Sam would take pity on her. _And pigs might fly..._ 'And you couldn't have told us you were a ghost?' the angry Goth asked scathingly. Antoinette wasn't given a chance to reply before Sam continued her tirade. 'Why should Danny trust you, huh? You lied to us! How do we know you weren't sent by one of his enemies? Maybe you're working for Vlad or something! I _knew_ there was something funny about you when Danny said his ghost-sense kept going off... And even if you _aren't_ evil, you shouldn't have lied to us! Oh, you are _so dead_!' Antoinette backed away, deciding not to point out that Sam's death-threats were coming a little late. Sam _could_ probably get access to the Fenton's lab if she wanted to, so it was best to try not to make her any angrier.

'Uh, I'm really sorry I didn't tell you, but...' Antoinette looked at Danny helplessly, hoping he might help her placate the angry Goth. No such luck. _Time to pull out the pity card, then_. '...I wanted to be human for a little while.' She said in a small voice, praying it would work.

Antoinette's prayers, however, were in vain. Sam had privately decided that Antoinette wasn't actually evil, and could be forgiven. But that didn't mean she wasn't going to make the shape-shifter pay for lying to her first.

_Okay, hopefully Valerie didn't seem too out of character. I'm having a bit of difficulty imagining how she'd react, but because in some of the later episodes she does seem wi__l__ling to give some ghosts the benefit of the doubt, I decided that she would at least hold her fire if a ghost asked her to talk. I think she's fairly accurate, hopefully you agree. Again, please review. The next chapter will be called Alliances and I'll try to have it up Wednesday/Thursday next week (I've been trying to get a chapter up every Wednesday)._


	4. Alliances

_Okay, first of all, I realise Sam seemed a little out of character last chapter. Thanks for pointing that out, I'm really sorry about that. Truth is, I was worrying more about getting Valerie to seem in character than anyone else, and I was a little unsure about Sam's reaction anyway, so it didn't go as I had hoped. If I have time, once this is complete I'll go back and alter the chapter, and any ideas you have about that would be great. Secondly, thanks again to DPcrazy and sciencefreak330. Your reviews have been really encouraging. Finally, next week's update will be delayed, because I have some major schoolwork due in and I can't really take time out to write this. Instead of updating next Wednesday, it'll probably be Saturday or Sunday. Sorry about that, I'll go back to Wednesdays after my work's been handed in._

_Last chapter revealed Danny and Mimic's alliance to Sam, Tucker and Valerie. Valerie, after a chat with Mimic, is beginning to wonder if Danny Phantom might not be such a bad guy after all._

**DISCLAIMER:**_ If you saw it on the TV show, it's not mine._

**CHAPTER FOUR:**_ Alliances_

A week had past since Sam's outburst, and Antoinette had been forgiven, provided she promised never to pull something like that ever again. Antoinette and Danny had begun to train each other: Mimic using her ten years of experience as a ghost to teach Danny new tricks, and Danny using his year's experience of ghost fighting to help Mimic better defend herself against ghostly attacks. Once a week, they would head out to a large, empty area just outside of Amity, taking turns to show each other what they knew.

'You just need to learn to change the shape of your shield, and to hold it without needing to concentrate on it all the time. Try again, and focus on making it stay up this time.' She told him, attempting to teach Danny how to make his ectoshield into an ectosword- or, for that matter, anything else he might have wanted to make. Danny had quickly mastered getting it into the right shape, but he was having difficulty making it keep its shape once he stopped concentrating on it and tried to fight. She demonstrated again for him, forming a long, glowing green blade. 'It's tricky, but I'm pretty sure you'll get it soon.' She told him encouragingly. The two ghosts, one full, one half, continued to train together, unaware that they were being watched by a certain red-suited huntress.

Valerie watched the two ghosts sparring with one another. They were a lot better than she had thought they were. _Maybe they really didn't want to hurt me_, she thought. _If this is anything to go by, they certainly could've injured me more seriously than they did_. Ever since Mimic had had that little chat with her on the roof, she hadn't been sure what to think of Phantom and his new friend. On the one hand, they really did seem to want to protect Amity Park from ghosts, and Mimic's explanations helped clear the air a little with Phantom. Besides, Mimic had really surprised Valerie. She'd been convinced all ghosts were evil, but Mimic had calmly and reasonably explained Phantom's actions and shown... well, a lot more maturity than Valerie had, actually. But on the other hand, they were both lying to the residents of Amity Park, and Valerie wasn't sure she liked the idea of a ghost who could disguise herself as anyone she liked to avoid punishment.

She had thought it over long and hard, and had come to the conclusion that, although she wasn't sure she wanted to _befriend_ the two ghosts, she was willing to make an alliance. But there would be a few conditions...

'Hey, ghost boy!' she shouted, emerging from her hiding place. She had put her ecto-blasters away, and taken her helmet and mask off as a peace offering. She knew it was a risk, but hopefully, Mimic had been telling the truth and would hold Phantom back if he tried to attack.

Alarmed by the noise, Mimic automatically morphed into a girl Valerie recognised as Phantom's cousin, Danielle (Who was actually a female clone of Danny, but Valerie didn't know that.) Phantom lost his concentration, and the ectosword in his hand disintegrated. Upon seeing Valerie, his eyes widened and he dropped into a defensive crouch, a glowing ectoblast forming in his hand, until he felt Mimic lay a hand on his shoulder. He looked at her questioningly.

Upon seeing Valerie, Mimic had returned to her own form, and laid a hand on Danny's shoulder to stop him from trying to attack. 'Danny, it's okay. I talked it all over with her a couple of weeks ago, actually. She's not going to try and destroy us... I hope.' She glanced up at Valerie, who, after a moment's hesitation, nodded. A wide grin split across Mimic's face, a combination of happiness and pure relief. Danny, whoever, looked surprised and worried. 'You- you told her? About what?' he asked, the normally tanned ghost looking extremely pale. Mimic laughed.

'Oh relax, Danny. I didn't tell her anything you wouldn't have told her. I just said that you were a good ghostie, explained your previous actions and told her who I was and what I was up to. She has apparently taken my words to heart, as she is not blasting the living ectoplasm out of us, which is always nice.' She paused, and gave Valerie a thoughtful look. 'I would imagine that our little chat is what she's come to talk about, actually.' Valerie nodded, and turned to face Phantom, clearing her throat.

'Is it true, about that dog and the squeaky toy?' she asked him. He nodded, still looking somewhat dazed, not to mention annoyed with a certain shapeshifter. 'And about my old suit, and the thing with my Dad and my secret?' he nodded again, and a hopeful look was dawning on his face. He looked at her anxiously, and opened his mouth to speak. '...So, you believe me? You... you don't think I'm evil anymore?'

Valerie looked reluctant, unsure how to answer the expectant ghost. 'I'm... willing to reconsider.' She told him. His face fell, but rose again, and he grinned widely. 'Mimic, if this crazy idea of yours hadn't actually worked, I'd be blasting you right back to the ghost-zone, but since Valerie actually seems willing to discuss this with me, you are forgiven.' He told her, beaming. 'And Valerie?' he turned to the ghost hunter, who was giving him rather bemused look. 'I'm so, so glad you've agreed to try and make peace. You have no idea how much it means to me.'

'...So, yeah, I'm not sure I totally trust you, but I do think Mimic was telling the truth. I think that you're a good guy, Phantom, even though I don't like you much. I'll fight on your side, but... on one condition.' Mimic raised her eyebrows. She was currently floating upside down a couple of meters in the air, in her own form but dressed in Phantom's jumpsuit. Her expression was one of faintly annoyed surprise. Danny, on the other hand, looked slightly panicked, and a little disappointed. He had been hoping Valerie would forgive him, but he supposed he would have to take it one step at a time. Val was proud, after all, and didn't like admitting her mistakes. It was a miracle Mimic got her to agree to this at all.

'What condition would that be, Val?' asked Mimic, still hanging upside down, something which was making even Danny feel slightly nauseous by now. Valerie evidently felt the same way, as she looked slightly queasy when she looked at Mimic. 'Turn the right way up first; you're making me feel ill.' Mimic grinned, and flipped herself over before settling cross-legged in the air. 'Thank you.' She stopped, and took a deep breath, wondering how the two ghosts would react. 'My condition is that you have to tell Amity Park about Mimic.'

The ghost in question momentarily lost control of her powers and began to fall, although she regained control of herself before she hit the ground. Danny merely looked mildly surprised: he had been expecting something like that. Valerie didn't like ghosts much, after all. Mimic, panicked, began to protest. 'But they barely trust Danny! They'll never accept a shapeshifter, Val!' Valerie shrugged. 'It didn't stop Phantom, did it? They'll learn to like you in time, Mimic. Besides, wouldn't you like your own uniform? Especially since your powers mean you can wear whatever you can dream up. Do you have any idea how much Paulina would give to be able to do that? She's always moaning about not being able to find the clothes she wants at the mall.' She chuckled, and despite herself, Mimic laughed too.

'It would be nice to get some of the credit. But I don't want to knock Danny's already shaky reputation...' Valerie took a deep breath, and said something she never thought she'd hear herself say: 'I... I know you're a good ghost, Mimic. I'll vouch for you. Both as the Red Huntress and as Valerie Grey.' At this, Mimic looked surprised, but also genuinely happy. 'You'd do that for me?' she asked in a small voice. Valerie nodded. For a moment, the long-dead teen looked unsure of what to do.

The surprised look that had crossed Mimic's face when Valerie offered to vouch for her was _nothing, _absolutely_ nothing,_ compared to the look on Valerie's when the ghost girl flew over to her and hugged her, thanking her over and over again the whole time.

Mimic hadn't really thought when she'd gone to hug Valerie, but she honestly hadn't expected any support from the ghost hunter. Apart from Danny, and now Sam and Tucker, she hadn't really had anybody who would stick up for her since, well, since she'd died. Valerie's offer to vouch for her had meant a lot more to the ghost than Valerie could've guessed, even if that hadn't been the ghost hunter's intention. She grinned at Valerie before they left.

'Val?' she called, smiling widely. 'Thank you, Val.'

Valerie felt confused. A part of her was screaming that all ghosts were evil, and that Valerie was playing right into a trap. But Mimic's sudden gratitude had overwhelmed her. She had never thought of ghosts having emotions before, but both Mimic and Phantom seemed to display the full human range, from anger to joy. She sighed, and kicked her jet sled into life, flying homewards as fast as she could.

Danny and Mimic, meanwhile, had met up with Tucker and Sam and gone back to the training space just outside Amity Park, not only to discuss the Valerie situation, but because Sam wanted to give Mimic a hand choosing a ghost hunting outfit. After suffering the Goth's wrath the week before, Mimic was quite eager to get on her good side and happily accepted Sam's help.

'At least she won't be trying to kill you two anymore, although I still don't think we can trust her.' Said Sam, sat cross-legged on the (ever so slightly scorched, thanks to Danny and Mimic's training sessions) grass. Danny and Mimic were lounging about a few feet away, while Tucker was fiddling with his PDA. Danny nodded his response, and looked at Tucker. 'Anything to add, Tuck?' Tucker shook his head. 'I think Sam's covered all the bases.' He said with a grin. Mimic nodded. 'Yup, I'd say we've talked this topic into an early grave. Change subject?' she asked, lazily.

Sam smiled. 'Okay then. Since Valerie wants Amity Park to know about you, Mimic- the only thing she and I will ever agree on, I think-' Tucker mumbled something about Danny at this point. Sam glared at him, Mimic burst out laughing (Tucker had filled her in on the Danny-Sam situation a little while back, and she was almost as bad as Tucker when it came to 'lovebirds' comments) and poor Danny just looked confused. Sam coughed. 'As I was saying, the only thing we need to cover now is what you'll be wearing to your ghost fights.'

Mimic looked thoughtful. '...I was thinking I'd probably get a jumpsuit like Danny's, because that'd be easier to fight in than loose clothing... I suppose blue, for the colour scheme. What do you think?' She directed this question at Sam, as the two boys had already contributed their ideas. Danny had recommended the jumpsuit, and Tucker had said that since he was neither a fashion guru nor a ghost hunter, but a tech geek, he couldn't really advise her.

Sam looked thoughtful. 'I'd go with dark blue, personally. Or black and purple.' Mimic had chuckled, and morphed into a black and purple jumpsuit. 'Maybe a little too Goth for me, Sam.' She laughed. She changed again, this time making it into a light blue version of Danny's jumpsuit. 'How's this?' She asked. Danny laughed.

'You look like my Mom!' he told her, trying and failing to hold back his laughter. Sam and Tucker joined in, and Mimic hit Danny lightly over the head. 'It's not that much like your Mom's jumpsuit, Danny.' She scowled, and darkened the jumpsuit to midnight blue, turning the belt, boots, gloves and collar a silvery-grey colour. She made the wide collar smaller, so that it covered less of her shoulders and neck. Then she changed her boots slightly, making a small heel. Finally, she lost the silver DP insignia on the front of the jumpsuit, and replaced it with a logo of her own: a little white ghost emblem with blue eyes, roughly the same size as Danny's own symbol. Mimic looked down at her new motif with a grin on her face, and to complete her new outfit she tied her mid-length peacock-blue hair back in a ponytail to keep it out of the way during fights. She looked to the others for approval.

Sam grinned. 'I think I like it. Danny, Tucker, what do you think of our newest ghostly hero?' Tucker grinned. 'Looks good! What do you think, dude?' he poked Danny in the ribs. 'It looks great, Antoinette. Better than the last one, anyway.' He grinned. 'It wasn't that much like your Mom's!' she protested, but Danny ignored her, and the four teenagers, both living and dead, began to pack their things away and prepare themselves for the flight back to Amity Park.

The sun rose over Amity Park to a cloudless sky that Saturday morning, revealing a very nervous-looking ghost pacing backwards and forwards up the wall of a building. As the ghost paced, an alarm clock went off in the bedroom of the youngest Fenton, who had been lying awake with nerves anyway. He shot out of bed and hurriedly dressed, before transforming and shooting out the window to meet his ghostly friend. When Danny and Mimic met, neither spoke to the other, just exchanged anxious looks as they waited for the arrival of Valerie Grey.

They didn't have to wait long: The roar of the jet sled's engines could now be heard, a sound familiar to both ghosts. Valerie rounded the corner, to find a worried Phantom floating in midair before his friend, and a very stressed Mimic, pacing up and down a wall. _That's going to take some getting used to_, thought Valerie, as she raised an eyebrow at the girl displaying intense disregard for the laws of physics. She could just about handle the floating and the ectoblasts, which she'd seen before, but other ghosts rarely walked up walls, or hovered upside down. Mimic certainly was... weird.

'Hey ghosts!' Valerie called. _I_ _used to use that as battle cry, now it's a friendly greeting_, she thought, amused. _Well, sort of friendly_. 'You ready to get this show on the road?' she asked. Mimic paled visibly, and Phantom shot the other ghost a concerned look. 'Val, can this maybe wait a little? She's really worried about it...' he gave her a pleading look, and Valerie was actually about to say yes, when she was interrupted by Mimic.

'Danny, the sooner we get this done, the better.' She said, as firmly as she could in her current condition. 'Val, you'll stick up for me, right?' she asked, looking forlorn. Valerie just nodded. There wasn't any other answer she could give, really.

Phantom smiled comfortingly at Mimic. 'If you're sure. You don't have to, not if it's worrying you that much. Although you really don't need to worry, you know... even if they don't believe you, it doesn't matter, right? They'll come around. They didn't like me either...' he said trying to encourage the scared ghost. Mimic nodded again. She knew that she shouldn't worry so much. But, truth be told, Amity Park was really beginning to grow on her. The past ten years had been pretty dull, with nothing to do but sit around and play with her powers. Sure, all the practice was coming in handy, but it would be no use if she couldn't use what she'd learnt. And although if it came to it, she could just start pretending to be Phantom again, but she didn't particularly like the idea. And what would happen to Phantom's reputation after this little stunt? Would they think he was trying to bring in ghostly minions to harm their town? Would they still trust him?

But she couldn't back out. She had agreed to do this to get Valerie to agree to a truce, an alliance. She had agreed to do this to help Danny. _So here we go_, she thought. _Time to face the music_.

They were floating in the city center, Valerie on her jet sled, Phantom and Mimic floating beside her. A few citizens were staring: After all, the Red Huntress was usually trying to _destroy_ ghosts. Valerie cleared her throat.

'Amity Park, this is the Red Huntress. If I could have your attention, please?'

_So there you go. You'll have to wait until next chapter to find out what Amity thinks of Mimic, I'm afraid. Just to reiterate: Next week, the chapter won't up on Wednesday like normal, but on Saturday/Sunday. Thanks for reading, please leave a review. And if you have any advice/ideas on how I could improve my writing, please tell me! I can handle criticism, and in fact, I appreciate people pointing out my mistakes so I can correct them. Thanks!_


	5. Explanations

_**DISCLAIMER:**__ If you saw it on TV, it doesn't belong to me. _

_Okay, sorry I couldn't get this up on Wednesday, but the next update will be on Wednesday like normal. I'm a little bit nervous about the whole telling-amity-about-Mimic thing, since I really wasn't sure how to write it... Hopefully, it's not too badly done. If Valerie is acting strange, remember this: __she's having__ to admit to the entire town that she was completely and utterly wrong, and that Phantom's actually the good guy. I don't know about you, but it'd make me nervous. Anyway, last time I left Valerie, Danny and Mimic hanging around central Amity Park, about to tell the whole town that they now have two ghostly heroes. Introducing chapter five! Thanks go to sciencefreak330__ DPcrazy__ and Mystinalchemist: __I really appreciated your __reviews,__hopefully this chapter will live up to your expectations!_

**CHAPTER FIVE:**_ Explanations_

The people of Amity Park were curious. They had been going about their daily business on a bright and sunny Saturday morning, when the Red Huntress, Phantom and an unknown ghost had been sighted hovering in the center of town. Phantom was usually only seen fighting other ghosts, so to see him just floating there was unusual, and to see him floating there in the company of the Red Huntress was just downright strange. After all, the Red Huntress hated Phantom. It was well known that she wanted nothing more than to tear him to pieces. So what was going on?

"Amity Park, this is the Red Huntress. If I could have your attention, please?" her voice was heard quite clearly in the street below, thanks to a microphone thoughtfully installed into the mask of hre suit. The residents of Amity Park who weren't already watching looked up to the three flying figures; and cameras started flashing as the local newspapers caught wind of what was happening. Once she was sure she had their attention, she continued.

"Many of you will have seen me around town, fighting the ghosts they have become a constant problem." Valerie said, sweating beneath her mask. She had asked Phantom and Mimic for help with her speech, but that didn't make it any easier. "One of the ghosts all of you will recognise is Danny Phantom, who saved the town from the Ghost King a little while ago." She paused, and scanned the crowd. They were silent, paying attention to what their resident teenage ghost hunter had to say. "I've always believed that Phantom is evil, but I have recently found that I..." she swallowed her pride. This was the part of her speech she was really not looking forward to.

"...I was... wrong. As much as it pains me to admit it, Phantom really is the good guy. And I... I guess I'm trying to say that I'm sorry. I'm sorry for trying to destroy him when he was trying to help. I... thought that because he was a ghost, he was evil, and I never tried to talk to him, to ask his side of the story. And I should've. So... I'm sorry, Danny Phantom." Shockwaves went through the crowd below her, and people began to whisper amongst themselves, staring at Valerie on her jet-sled, and at Phantom, who was looking extremely embarrassed as he floated in the air beside the Huntress. "Yeah. Anyway. Since Phantom is actually a good ghost, he and I will be working together from now on." The murmuring from below got louder as Danny floated a little lower to make it easier to hear him from the street. He spotted Sam and Tucker in the crowd, and gave them a quick wave. Then he turned his attention to the rest of the crowd, and gave a sheepish grin.

"Right. Um, Hi, Amity Park. I'm Danny Phantom, and like Va- Uh, the Red Huntress said, we're working together now to fight off the ghosts that are invading this town." He rubbed the back of his neck anxiously, and Valerie almost laughed at how nervous the normally confident ghost seemed. "But, it's not just the Huntress I'm going to be working with. I'd like to introduce you to a really good friend of mine who'll be helping me and the Huntress with the ghost fighting stuff." The murmur increased as the residents of Amity Park realised where this was going. "Amity Park, this is Mimic." And as the crowd looked up at the three with a mixture of shock and a certain amount of distrust, Mimic stepped out from behind Valerie and Danny, swallowing all her fear and putting up as much false bravado as she could muster.

"Hi, I'm Mimic, like Danny said, and, as I'm pretty sure he also said, or at least, hinted strongly at, I'm a good ghost. I'm going to be helping Danny and Red here defend your town!" she called out, waving with a confidence she didn't feel. "_Red?_" Valerie hissed at her from one side, and despite the seriousness of the situation, she almost laughed. Gesturing at Valerie to be quiet for a moment, she hid her fear behind her grin again and dropped a little closer to the street below, so that the people of Amity Park could see her better.

"I know that you guys have a hard time trusting ghosts, and heck, I don't blame you. But I really am here to help. Uh, you should probably know that I can... well, I can morph." She said, and a ripple of conversation swept through the crowd. She demonstrated quickly, changing into Danny Phantom in a smart suit and tie, the Red Huntress in a floral pink suit, Mayor Vlad Masters dressed in Jack Fenton's jumpsuit and finally back into herself. A few laughs rose from the crowd here and there, and both Valerie and Danny gave her an annoyed look. Vlad Masters, in his home a few streets away, spluttered as he saw himself in a bright orange jumpsuit on TV. Mimic gave a nervous laugh.

"I thought you should probably know about that... uh, anyway, I promise to be a good ghostie and not muck about with my powers and stuff. And I'll understand if you don't trust me, but... just give me a chance, okay? I mean..." she dropped her self-assured act, looking for the first time as insecure as she felt. "...You gave Danny Phantom a chance. I just want to help." She gave the crowd a helpless look, and a few cameras flashed as the local photographers snapped out of their shock to capture a picture of "Amity's newest ghostly hero?"

Danny stepped in, seeing that Mimic was feeling increasingly uncomfortable. "She really is a good ghost, I swear! Please, like she says, just give her a chance." Mimic gave him a thankful smile, and Valerie decided to fulfil her promise. "Say what you want, but Mimic is good. If it weren't for her, I'd still be hunting the wrong ghost. And... She's my... friend, I guess. And I hate ghosts, so..." she stopped. "...What I'm trying to say is, she deserves a chance." Mimic, grinned delightedly at Valerie, resisting the urge to go and hug her again. "Thanks, _Red_." She said teasingly. Valerie grinned behind her mask. "Watch it, ghost-girl. I can still change my mind, you know." Mimic laughed, and then suddenly remembered the crowd below her and gave them a panicked look. So far, they seemed more shocked than anything else.

_Well, at least nobody__'__s shouting __"__Kill the ghost!__"_ she thought, as she watched the crowd below. After what seemed like an age, Valerie powered up her jet-sled, and after a quick goodbye, the two ghosts and the one human flew away, leaving a bewildered Amity Park in their wake.

"**Mimic: Ghostly Do-Gooder or Shifty Shape-Shifter?**" questioned the front page of the _Amity Express_the next day. Antoinette Tanner sighed as she read the article through. _At least they__'__re willing to give me a chance,_ she thought. She folded the newspaper up and put it into her bag, looking around her and waiting for the arrival of Danny, Sam and Tucker. There had been three ghost attacks since Mimic was introduced to the town, but as two had been the Box Ghost and the other had been Skulker, she hadn't had much of a chance to prove her good intentions to Amity yet. She sighed. _It took an attack from the Ghost King himself to get them to like Danny. What__'__ll it take to get them to like me?_ Her thoughts were interrupted when Danny turned the corner, Sam and Tucker bickering a few meters behind him (Tucker probably shouldn't have started salivating at the sight of a new steak restaurant). She grinned and fell in step with Danny. "Ultra-Recyclo-Vegetarian vs. Meat Connoisseur again?" she asked him, smile widening. Danny nodded and sighed, and Mimic laughed.

"Tucker, how would _you_ feel if you were cooked and eaten? Oh, hey Antoinette. And just _think_ of all those poor animals!" Antoinette stifled a laugh. "Hi Sam, Hi Tuck." Tucker grinned. "Hi Antoinette. And Sam, if those poor animals don't want to be dinner they shouldn't taste so good!" Antoinette shook her head, knowing full well that they would probably be arguing until they reached the Nasty Burger. She turned to Danny. "So, loverboy, confessed to Sam yet?" Danny went bright red. "I do not fancy Sam! Honestly, it was bad enough when it was just Tucker..." Antoinette punched him playfully on the arm. "You know it's true, Danny boy. But I'll leave you alone... for now."

They arrived at the Nasty Burger, and Sam and Tucker stopped arguing long enough to order their food. Antoinette ordered ice-cream because "It doesn't matter what I eat, so I eat what I want" and Danny got an order of fries because he'd already eaten at home. As they ate, they discussed Mimic's status with the citizens of Amity Park.

"Well, the polls show that at least 58 percent of Amity thinks you're good news, and another 14 percent haven't decided what they think yet, so that leaves only about 28 percent who actively don't like you, and I'm pretty sure you'll win them over... Danny's popular now, so his sticking up for you means people are going to like you, and Val's helping too, weirdly, because she's telling everyone Danny's good and that you're good too, which means that her fans will be okay with you, for the most part, and..." Antoinette held up a hand. "Information overload, Sam! But I think I get what you mean. But there's still that 28 percent..." she added worriedly. Danny grinned at her. "They'll come round, Ann. Don't worry about it." Antoinette grinned.

"Yeah, you're right, Danny. Come on, guys, let's go to the park."

School on Monday was rife with rumours and speculation about Amity Park's newest spectral defender. Reactions had been mixed: Paulina was upset, believing that Phantom had a romantic relationship with Mimic, which had sent Sam and Tucker into fits of laughter as both Danny and Antoinette looked incredibly annoyed. A few students were distrustful, especially as the new ghost could change form. ("What if she does something bad while she looks like someone else?") Mostly, the students seemed to have decided to wait it out and see what Mimic was like, and reserve judgement until then.

Valerie, true to her word, was firmly on Mimic's side, and seemed quite willing to argue with anyone who wasn't. Danny, Sam, Tucker and Antoinette quite obviously said that they liked her, and other than a few jealous fan girls no one really hated her.

"Okay, they don't hate my guts. I'm happy." Said Antoinette at the lunch table, picking at her mystery meat and wishing she didn't have to eat it to keep up her human disguise. "There's only one thing." Danny gave her a curious look, and was about to ask his ghostly friend what the matter was when Paulina interrupted them, walking past their table discussing Mimic loudly with her friends.

"They're totally going out or something. She's, like, stolen my ghost-boy from me!" she moaned to Starr, who gave her a sympathetic smile. Danny suddenly understood what Antoinette was talking about.

"Danny, please, please kill that rumour next time there's a ghost fight." groaned Antoinette, as Sam and Tucker burst into fresh peals of laughter.

_Okay, what do you think? I really wasn't sure about how Amity would react, but I decided that, since Danny would be pretty popular by this point (Just so you know, it's __a little__ bit before Phantom Planet, so most of Amity likes him__, and just a bit after d-stabilised, where Valerie seems to be almost friendly towards Phantom, even letting him go when she had the perfect chance to get him, so Valerie's beginning to be more friendly towards ghosts__) and because she'd got the Red Huntress's support, most people would be willing to give her a chance, especially after she went to the effort of introducing herself nicely and promised to be good. I felt that the newspapers would probably get bored of the "New Ghost Hero!" story and try to add a new spin to it, which is where the "Phantom loves Mimic" rumour came from, but Mimic won't be dating any time soon. Anyway, I hope you liked it, please leave a review! Thanks._


	6. Not Allies, But Friends

_**DISCLAIM**__ER__: I do not own Danny Phantom or anything else seen on the show. I do, for what it's worth, own Mimic. _

_I would like to thank my reviewers, as __I was feeling a little down and you really cheered me__ up. So, thanks go to DPcrazy, sciencefreak330__ Mystinalchemist__ and Kittygrl24 (__**EDIT**__: Sorry, I missed you off the original thank-you list because you reviewed just after I finished this chapter)__. I'm glad you enjoyed the last chapter; with any luck you'll like this one, too. Last chapter, Mimic was introduced to Amity Park, and aside from the rumour mills being thrown into overdrive, the reaction has been, for the most part, positive. I'm sure you're bored of me now, so here's chapter six:_

**CHAPTER SIX: **_Not Allies, But Friends_

Valerie had been injured early on in the fight when Skulker had taken her by surprise and knocked her off her jet sled. It had caught her before she hit the ground, but she had hit the sled hard and was badly winded, though her suit prevented any really serious damage. For now, she was hanging back, not willing to take her place in the fight while hurt unless she was sure Phantom and Mimic couldn't handle it without her.

There had been a minor fight with Skulker the week before, but he had been taken by surprise when Mimic and Valerie turned up to help Phantom, and had very quickly been beaten back. This time he had come prepared, shouting for Phantom's pelt and threatening Valerie and Mimic with a similar fate, leaving both girls feeling quite disgusted. Phantom was currently keeping the ghostly hunter distracted while Mimic snuck up behind him. Suddenly, the hunter shot towards the street below, bright ectoplasmic energy blazing towards two terrified bystanders.

Phantom's eyes widened and a cry tore from his throat as he threw himself in the path of the blast, forcing a bright green shield into existence in front of him. Mimic furiously blasted at Skulker, knowing that the only reason he had fired on a human was to distract Phantom. Valerie, who had shot forwards when she saw the blast, fell back once again, both relieved that Phantom had saved them and slightly guilty that it had taken her so long to realise whose side he was on.

_They really aren't that bad_, she mused as she watched the two furious ghosts throw themselves back into the fight. _They're actually kind of nice to hang out with, nicer than Paulina and Star, anyway. They might be ghosts, but I guess I really was wrong about them._ She grinned as Phantom sucked Skulker into his weird thermos, and glanced towards the couple that had nearly gotten hurt in their ghost fight, had Phantom not shielded them. They looked shell-shocked, but otherwise unharmed, and Valerie felt once again happy that she had given up on hunting him. It was true she still felt a little uneasy around him sometimes, but then, you can't spend nearly a year hunting someone and not get a little jumpy around them. She kicked her jet-sled into life and glided over to Phantom and Mimic, who had floated down to the ground and were now stood firmly on the concrete.

"Good job, you two." She grinned at them, and Mimic smiled back. Phantom seemed preoccupied, but sent her an anxious smile. He turned away for a moment to face the two bystanders he had shielded from Skulker's blast.

"Are you two okay?" he asked them, voice full of concern, and Valerie gazed at him in surprise. She had known he cared about humans, but even so, the level of anxiety in his voice was unexpected. They nodded at him, still clearly shaken. Valerie watched him thoughtfully.

"Thank you, Phantom." She said sincerely, and he raised his eyebrows in surprise. "For what, Va- Red?" he asked, mindful of his audience, not wanting to give Valerie's secret away to anyone else. Valerie waved a hand towards the still shaking spectators. "For saving them. I know you would've done anyway, but... until now, I didn't really... think you would. I mean, I believed you were good and everything, but I wasn't totally convinced that you really cared." Phantom gave her an odd look.

"Well... thank you for believing me, then." He said quietly. He floated into the air once again, and flew away. Mimic watched her critically, head tilted to one side.

"You know, you either made his day by believing him, or ruined it by telling him you didn't believe him before." She told the ghost hunter as she rose upwards, crossing her legs beneath her as she floated until she was sat in the air before Valerie, a gesture the red-suited ghost hunter had become familiar with over the past week. Mimic wanted to talk to her.

"I didn't want to hurt his feelings, but it was true. I never really thought he cared about the humans here, just Amity Park. I thought he was treating it like some kind of haunting territory, or something, and was playing hero to keep other ghosts out." Valerie explained to the girl, seating herself on her floating jet-sled as she spoke. Mimic nodded. "I guess I understand where you're coming from, Red, but he's probably going to be kind of upset that you still didn't trust him even with your... what did you call it? Oh, yeah. Alliance. He knows you don't like ghosts, Red, and that cuts him to the core. He likes you..." Valerie's eyes widened. "No! I didn't mean _like_ like! Just as a friend. Seriously, Red." The ghost shook her head and held both hands up before her. Valerie nodded in understanding.

"I really didn't want to upset him." She felt slightly ashamed of herself as she realised that she had probably deeply offended the other ghost- or if not offended, hurt. She had hurt Phantom, and she hadn't fired a single shot.

She lifted her head, and looked at Mimic, who was watching her with concern. And she realised that, ghost or not, she thought of Phantom and Mimic as friends. Friends she had been trying to hurt for a long time because she was... well, prejudiced.

A tight ball of guilt formed in her stomach. "Mimic, can you help me find him? I need to apologise. I shouldn't have said that to him... I guess I think of him as a friend too, and I don't want to lose his friendship over something as thoughtless as that."

Mimic looked at Valerie in a new light, and hid her delighted smile as well as she could. Could Valerie finally be getting over her ghost-hate? She didn't know, but the teen had just admitted that she thought of Danny as a friend, and as far as Mimic was concerned, that could only be a good thing.

"He'll be flying somewhere; he always does when he wants to clear his head. Come on, we'll find him. After all, he's my friend too, right?"

The two flew over Amity Park, keeping an eye out for the distinctive black jumpsuit and shock-white hair of their friend. As they flew, they kept up a lively conversation, chatting and joking with one another like old friends.

"So Star thought that Paulina was going to the dance with Kwan, and asked Dash, but Paulina overheard and was absolutely furious! It took weeks before they sorted themselves out, and I was stuck playing piggy-in-the-middle the entire week. I'm so glad I don't have to worry about that any..." Valerie trailed off as she spotted a very familiar head of snow-white hair. "There he is! Danny!" she shouted, and Mimic twisted around in surprise, with Phantom following.

Both ghosts gave her a stunned look, and Valerie gazed at them in confusion. "What?" she asked, unable to work out why they were so shocked. "Nothing, Val, but I think that's the first time you've ever called me Danny." He said, giving her a cautious look. "Why?"

It was Valerie's turn to look surprised, as she realised it was true. Then she grinned. "Can't I call my friend by his first name?" she asked, and Danny's eyes widened in uncertainty, and then happiness. "You mean that? We're friends?" his face was hopeful, and Valerie nodded. "I didn't mean to upset you earlier, Danny. Mimic and I were talking and I realised that we aren't just allies, we're friends, and I'd really hurt you. So we came looking for you so that I could say sorry for... jumping to conclusions about you. Friends?" she held out her hand.

She didn't think she'd ever seen a bigger smile on Danny Phantom's face than when he took her hand and shook it. "Friends. Mimic?" the blue-haired ghost grinned. "The very best, Danny. Wouldn't have it any other way." Valerie smiled at the ghost girl, delighted that she had been forgiven so quickly.

"Hey ghost-boy, reckon you and Mimic can fly faster than my jet-sled?" she asked, kicking the engines into action. Danny grinned at her. "You're on, _Red_. Mimic?" the girl smirked. "You know it, _Phantom_. Catch us if you can, Valerie!"

And the two ghosts streaked off towards the center of Amity Park, a red suited ghost hunter on a jet-sled not far behind them.

In his office, the Mayor of Amity Park frowned at the headline on the front of his newspaper, and thinking back to a news broadcast not so long ago.

"It seems Daniel has made a friend, and I have lost a pawn." He said, reading through the article once more before casting it aside. "Very well, Daniel. Let us see how well your new friend plays chess."

_Sorry about the lack of plot here, and the short chapter, but I wanted to show that Valerie really has changed, even if she still didn't completely trust Danny and Mimic. And there's a big clue as to what will be happening next chapter in there- bet you can't guess who the villain is (just kidding). Whether you liked it or whether you hated it, I would love to know what you thought, so please review! Thanks._


	7. Master of Mayhem

_**DISCLAIMER**__: I do not own Danny Phantom. _

_Thank you DPcrazy andKittygrl24 for your reviews! Next week and the week after I'm sad to say I will not be able to update (Christmas/family stuff), but I shall do my best to make sure that when the update does come it's worth the wait. Anyway, last chapter, we had Valerie finally getting over her ghost-hate issues, and Vlad is plotting. Here's chapter seven!_

**CHAPTER SEVEN: **_Master of Mayhem_

Vlad leaned back in his chair, thinking. Over the past week it had become rather frustratingly obvious that attacking Daniel with both Valerie and Mimic to back him up would be an exercise in futility. The three worked well together as a team, and even Vlad would have difficulty beating them all. Daniel was fast and powerful, even if he was far younger than Vlad, Valerie was an excellent shot and certainly was motivated, and Mimic had ten years of experience and a flair for improvisation. Had it been only one or even two of them Vlad would have been fairly confident in his own abilities, but three was rather pushing it. He scowled.

Clearly he would need to split the three up. Maybe he could arrange three ghost attacks to happen at the same time? Provided they all felt confident enough to handle a ghost attack alone, they would split up to catch the three ghosts, leaving Daniel open. Once Vlad attacked, he would need to finish the fight very quickly, in case Valerie or Mimic came by to find their friend... perhaps the Plasmius Maximus?

A smug grin lit upon the man's face as ideas churned through his mind. Let the Pawns distract the Knights, then, while one King chased the other.

"Checkmate, Daniel."

Danny groaned as his ghost sense went off in Lancer's lesson, quickly followed by the beep of Valerie's ghost detector. He poked Antoinette, and she nodded. She raised her right hand in the air, at the same time hunching her shoulders slightly and holding her other hand over her stomach.

"I need to go the nurse's office, Mr Lancer... I feel really ill!" Antoinette said, subtly making herself look paler. Danny quickly offered to accompany her, and Valerie, giving Danny and Antoinette odd looks, asked if she could go to the bathroom. Lancer rolled his eyes, but allowed the three to leave, and they all went their separate ways only to meet up a few minutes later outside the school, suited for battle. Valerie took charge.

"My ghost detector says there are three ghosts, but they're all in separate places. Should we split up?" she asked. Danny bit his lower lip.

"Does that thing tell you how powerful they are?" he asked, not wanting to have to face someone like Vlad alone. Valerie nodded. "They're only a level three, maybe a four... Mimic, you're a five at the very least, Danny; you're a six, maybe even a seven. We should be able to handle it." Danny reluctantly nodded. "Fine, split up, but if you get into trouble, get out of there. We can regroup and fight them together later if need be. Okay?" the two girls nodded, and the three ghost fighters flew off in different directions to seek out the ghosts.

Valerie frowned. Danny had given her a rundown of the ghosts he knew, and this one she recognised as one of Walker's goons. She knew Danny was a wanted criminal in the Ghost Zone, but Walker was sneakier than this. To have three of his goons show up in the middle of the day, without any obvious reason, it had to be...

"A trap!" she hissed, as she turned away from the police officer and kicked her jet sled into action, flying as fast as she could, hoping she could make it before one of her friends got into trouble.

Mimic was confused. _Why would Walker's goons be here, and why only three? Danny c__an__ beat them easily enough, Walker kn__o__w__s__ that from experience, so why would he bother to send only three guards after him?_

Her eyes widened as she came to the same conclusion as Valerie, just as the huntress came flying around the corner. "Mimic! We have to find Danny!" shouted the red-suited girl. Mimic nodded, and fle into the air to follow the other girl.

Danny had been surprised to see that the ghostly threat had been one of Walker's goons. But then the ghostly police officer had disappeared, and Plasmius had attacked.

Danny barely managed to duck as a pink blast flew over his head, and spun around to face the older halfa with hatred in his glowing green eyes. "_Vlad_."

The white-cloaked ghost merely smirked. "Pleased to see me, Daniel?" He asked, holding a weapon Danny was very familiar with in his right hand. "The Plasmius Maximus!" he muttered to himself, as he ducked under another ectoblast. "What do you want, Vlad?" he asked, firing a blast of his own at the older ghost. He got a smirk for an answer, and an ectoblast clipped his left arm. He hissed in pain, and rolled out of the way to avoid another blast.

"You still have a choice, Daniel. Think of all the things we could do together! You could learn so much from me... I could help you, be a _real_ father to you!" Vlad smirked, grabbing Danny by the front of his jumpsuit. Danny turned intangible and pulled away from him, kicking the wannabe father-figure in the shin.

Vlad scowled angrily, forming three copies of himself, and Danny cursed himself for not getting Mimic to teach him how to duplicate. Caught off guard, a weak ectoblast hit him in the stomach and he stumbled back. Throwing himself into the air again, he charged at one of the Vlads with ectoblasts burning at his fingertips. The duplicate disappeared, and Danny turned to face the other Vlads, preparing himself for an attack.

Firing another blast, and flinging up a shield just in time to deflect a hit, Danny didn't notice the duplicate sneaking around behind his back, Plasmius Maximus in hand...

_This was a hard chapter to write- fight scenes are really, really annoying. Hopefully you enjoyed this chapter, and I'm sorry I left you with a cliffhanger, especially as it's on a two-week hiatus for Christmas, but you shall have to wait until next chapter to find out what happens to poor Danny. Any advice regarding the fight would be much appreciated. Please review!_


	8. Valerie

_**DISCLAIMER: **__I do not own Danny Phantom._

_Sorry about the long wait, everyone, and sorry it's a little later than I said it would be. _

_KittyGrl24, DPcrazy and Sciencefreak330: Thank you for you reviews, and for your help! _

_As it has been a couple of weeks, here's a quick reminder of what's happened so you don't have to go and read through previous chapters: Vlad has managed to separate Danny, Valerie and Mimic from one another by getting a few of Walker's guards to pop up at the same time. Now Danny's fighting Vlad, unaware that Vlad is sneaking up behind him with the Plasmius Maximus. Val and Mimic are on their way to help, but they may not make it in time. _

**CHAPTER EIGHT: **_Valerie _

Danny pushed himself off the ground and into the air, preparing an ectoblast in his right hand, when suddenly, the Plasmius Maximus jammed into his side.

He screamed as the device shocked him, two rings of white light washing over him, changing him back into Danny Fenton. He tumbled through the air to the ground, landing painfully on his already-injured left arm. He gasped, and scrambled away from Vlad desperately, knowing he couldn't possibly escape but trying nonetheless.

With a triumphant cackle, Vlad recalled his duplicates and swooped down upon the teenager like a vulture on dead meat, quickly knocking him out with an ectoblast and binding the unconscious boy's wrists together with ectoplasmic rope. A large smirk lit his features as he turned both himself and the black-haired boy invisible and disappeared, taking Danny Fenton, spectral saviour of Amity Park, with him.

* * *

From behind her mask, the eyes of the Red Huntress widened, and her jaw slackened. She stared, aghast and disbelieving, at the air where Danny Fenton had previously been. Mimic paid her no heed, shooting forwards with a horrified cry. 

"_Danny!"_she called frantically, desperately hoping that somehow the boy was still there, that Vlad was merely invisible, that there was some chance of rescuing her friend before he was taken. When her hands met nothing but air, she sank to the pavement, searching urgently for some kind of clue as to where the older half-ghost had taken her friend. But before she could disappear, a choked noise from behind her stole her attention.

Her disused heart sank as she realised exactly who was behind her, and she turned slowly, feeling oddly queasy.

"...Valerie."

* * *

The girl looked shaky, wobbling dangerously on her jet sled. Mimic winced at her shocked expression, and cautiously floated into the air once more, gliding slowly towards Valerie. 

The red-suited huntress paid her no attention, simply staring in silence. "Danny?" she murmured hoarsely.

"D-Danny?" Mimic nodded mutely, watching the ghost hunter warily. Valerie did not acknowledge the nod, instead staring shocked, visibly shaking.

Mimic grimaced, and flew over to the other girl, gently but firmly taking hold of her shoulders to prevent her from toppling off the jet sled. "Careful, now. Fly down, Valerie." She said quietly, guiding the other girl towards the ground, where it wouldn't be quite so dangerous if she fell.

Valerie allowed herself to be lifted off the jet sled and onto the pavement, turning her questioning gaze to Mimic. The ghost gave her an encouraging smile, knowing that she needed the other girl's help if she were to rescue Danny.

"Okay, Val. That was a big shock for you, I know. But you need to pull yourself together now, okay? I want you to take a deep breath, and calm down." Mimic said as gently as possible, stamping down her own conflicted emotions and attempting to comfort the younger girl. "I know that you weren't expecting that, and that it's difficult to believe, but it's true. I know you're probably very shocked and maybe angry or distressed, but Danny is in a lot of danger right now Valerie, and he needs you. So I want you to try and calm down for me." she said soothingly, awkwardly putting her arm around the girl, hoping the friendly gesture wouldn't upset her.

Valerie said nothing for a few minutes, closing her eyes and breathing deeply as the ghost had instructed her.

"Danny Fenton is Danny Phantom?" she asked quietly, after a long silence. Mimic nodded, readying herself to fly away quickly if the girl decided to go on a murderous rampage for being lied to. But Valerie did nothing, and she relaxed.

"Val... I know it's hard to take in, but it's true. I'd explain it all to you, but we really don't have time... If Vlad has Danny, there's no telling what will happen to him." She said softly, resisting the urge to scream at the girl for not flying off after Danny immediately.

"Vlad is like that too, isn't he." she said, more a statement than a question. Mimic gave her a surprised look, before nodding.

"Vlad and Danny are half-ghosts, Valerie. Although I have no idea how you knew about Vlad..." Valerie gave a bitter laugh.

"Me and Danny had just rescued his... ghost cousin, I think, from being melted into green goop and I went back to see if _Mr. Masters_ was alright. But he didn't see me coming, and transformed in front of me." Mimic looked surprised.

"Danny has a ghost cousin? Oh, never mind. Valerie even if you're furious, we have to go and save him..." she was cut off by Valerie, who raised a hand.

"Yeah, Okay. Sorry I freaked out... I was just a bit shaken. I mean, that's my ex-boyfriend, you know. More to the point, that's _Danny Fenton_. I dated him and hunted him at the same time. I broke up with him to make sure he wasn't in any danger from ghosts, and he's been fighting them. He's the son of two _ghost hunters_. I wouldn't have thought anyone like _Danny_ could ever be anyone like _Phantom_. I mean, the guy's a klutz, he spends more time in his locker than his school books do..." she trailed off. "Man, he's been letting Dash beat him up all this time?"

Despite the situation, Mimic found herself laughing. Valerie was evidently still shocked, but was apparently coming around to the idea. "I know what you mean, I was surprised too. But right now, Val, we've got a rescue mission to get started." Valerie nodded grimly, and she climbed back onto her jet sled, kicking it into action, the engines grumbling at it flew a few feet into the air.

"Let's get moving."

* * *

_I'm sorry it's a bit short. Also, Valerie is out of character. I know, and I'm sorry, but... well, put yourself in that situation, and I'm pretty sure you'd act out of character too. I tried to keep her as Valerie-like as I could, but it seemed to me that she'd probably freak out. I know she's seen half-ghosts before, with Vlad and Danielle, but that's not why she's acting so strange. It's because it's Danny Fenton, of all people. I mean, compare the meek, scared, wimpy Fenton to the tough, confident Phantom. This is just how I thought she'd react, and hopefully, you don't think it's too far-fetched. Anyway, as always, please leave a review!_


	9. Antoinette

_**DISCLAIMER: **__I don't own Danny Phantom._

_Sorry this is up so late, I'm afraid the internet decided to blank out on Tuesday morning and we've only just got it working again. Back to normal schedule on Wednesday, though! _

_Thanks very much to my reviewers: KittyGry28, Sciencefreak330 and DPcrazy. _

_Last chapter, Valerie found out Danny's secret, but she has accepted him and she and Mimic are on their way to rescue Danny Phantom from Vlad's evil clutches._

**CHAPTER NINE: **_Antoinette_

"Okay, Val, head for Tucker's house- Sam should be there too, they were doing some kind of study session today after school, and they know abut your ghost hunting. Danny and Antoinette were supposed to be going too, but... Danny's not there, obviously, and I don't think Antoinette is either. She mentioned a family thing. The important thing is that Sam and Tucker have done this before, whereas I haven't actually encountered Vlad in the past- they can help us figure out a plan, and I'll provide the ghost power to carry it out." Mimic said quickly as they flew. Valerie nodded.

"You know, I guess this explains why they didn't like us going out, huh?" Valerie said, still feeling slightly mentally shaken. Mimic laughed.

"Oh, well, in Sam's case, I think it might have more to do with the fact that you were going out with him at all..." she joked. "Look, just over there. Just a minute, okay Val?"

Mimic flew over to Tucker's bedroom window and rapped sharply on the glass before phasing into the room. After a few seconds, the window opened, and Tucker stuck his head out.

"Hey Val. Come on in." He said with a weak grin. Valerie retracted her jet sled and helmet as soon as she was inside. "So, what exactly happened?" he asked.

Mimic grimaced. "...Vlad convinced Walker's guards to distract us for a little while. By the time we figured out it was a trap, Vlad had gone in and zapped him with the Plasmius Maximus. We didn't get there in time to stop him before he carried Danny off, and Valerie saw him transform." she shot Valerie a guilty look. "She was... shocked, to say the least, but she's okay with it. She knows about all three half-ghosts, and I was wandering if you thought she should know about the full-ghost as well... I didn't want to without your permission, but she'll be okay with it, I'm sure. Right Val?" she shot her a pleading look, but Valerie just looked confused.

Tucker and Sam glanced at each other, a silent conversation between the two. After a second, Sam nodded. "...Alright. It would probably be best if she knew anyway."

Mimic nodded, pulling in a deep breath she didn't need to calm herself. "Okay. Valerie? Don't freak out. You've just had a big shock, I know, and getting another one probably isn't good for you, but we- that is, Sam, Tucker, and I- think you need to know this. I can shapeshift, yes?"

Valerie gave her an odd look, not understanding why the ghost was asking her this. "Yes..."

"Right. Good, good. Uh... You know Antoinette Tanner, right?" asked Mimic, fidgeting nervously. Valerie noticed that the ghost had started floating a few centimetres off the ground. She nodded.

"Okay. Great. Val, I am Antoinette Tanner."

Valerie stared at her.

Mimic, rather nervously, forced her body to shift into the form of Antoinette Tanner. Valerie absently noted that the transformation involved very little change: merely altering her skin colour to a healthier hue, changing her hair to brown and dimming the bright glow in her eyes, changing the colour to a grey-clue shade.

Her mind was feeling a little hazy at this point, the successive shocks beginning to take their toll on her. However, in a way, she realised, she could have expected it: Mimic and Antoinette could have been twins, apart from their colouring. Both had short curly hair, and the same build, and the same mannerisms. After seeing Danny transform, and finding out that her employer was an evil ghost, this was only a minor shock. But a shock nonetheless.

"You're a full ghost though, right?" Mimic nodded. "What about Danny's ghost-sense, then?"

Mimic grinned. Valerie was taking this better than she'd thought she would: Perhaps the revelation about Danny had softened her up a little. "Danny just thought it was playing up. I'm a good actress, and it's fairly easy to imitate a pulse and breathing. I used a weak ectoblast to heat up the thermometer anytime someone took my temperature. I have to admit, it was hilarious watching him come up with an excuse to check my vital signs, but he managed it. Health class, wasn't it, Sam, Tucker?"

Valerie laughed. "Health class? He told you he had to check your vitals for health class?" Mimic nodded, grinning.

"Mind you, I'd have a hard time coming up with an excuse to check somebody's pulse. But now that the explanations are out of the way, and all secrets are in the open, we're ready to get started." The others snapped to attention, expressions grim and serious as they returned to the matter in hand. "Sam, Tucker. You've had to deal with Vlad's evil plots before. Valerie and I are basically just muscle here: I've never dealt with Vlad, and Val's only met him when she was working for him. So I'm leaving you two in charge of the actual plan, okay? Valerie and I are going on a mission." Mimic's grin was almost feral. "I have a feeling we'll be needing a few Fenton inventions."

* * *

Jazz Fenton was only too happy to oblige when Mimic asked her to get the two adult Fentons out of the house. While they were off at the park in search of Danny Phantom, Jazz turned off the ghost shield, and Mimic phased Valerie and herself into FentonWorks and the lab beneath it. 

"Val, if you would grab the Spectre Deflector, since I can't, and I'll grab a thermos and anything else that looks useful. Jazz, what do you think we should take?"

Jazz looked thoughtful. "Take a Fenton Peeler, Sam or Tucker could use it. Don't take the bazooka, it's got a kick like a mule when you fire and it weighs a tonne anyway. The boo-merang should help you find Danny, and the ghost fisher and the Jack o' nine tails are useful. Take the Fenton Phones, so you'll be able to keep in touch, and you should probably take the Spectre Speeder too."

Mimic nodded. Jazz gave her a small smile, knowing that the ghost was worried about Danny. "I'm sure Danny will be fine. He's always got through this before. But Mimic?"

Mimic looked up at her, and Jazz stepped forwards. "You better take good care of my little brother, okay?"

Mimic gave a weak smile. "Okay Jazz. I will. Come on Val." After glancing at the Spectre Deflector to ensure it was turned off, she grabbed hold of Valerie's and phased her out through the ceiling.

_Telling Valerie about Mimic was awkward, but I decided that after the shock with Danny, Valerie wouldn't be as surprised to learn that yet another of her classmates was a ghost. Again, I'm sorry this was late. Please review!_


	10. Distraction

_**DISCLAIMER: **__I do not own, have never owned, and never will own Danny Phantom._

_Chapter 10! As always, I'd like to thank my reviewers: sciencefreak330, DPcrazy and KittyGrl24. Thank you!_

_Last chapter, Mimic's secret was revealed to Valerie, and while Sam and Tucker came up with a plan, Mimic and Val went to find a few Fenton inventions._

**CHAPTER TEN: **_Distraction_

* * *

"Okay, Mimic, Valerie, great job. Now, the plan is to find Danny with the boo-merang and then sneak in and get him out. It sounds simple, but it's a lot harder than you might think. Valerie, you'll be with me, getting Danny out. Tucker and Mimic, you're providing the distraction. The last thing we want is Vlad showing up while we're getting out of the building. With me so far?" Sam asked, surveying the room.

Valerie and Tucker nodded, but Antoinette (Sam's mother kept appearing, and a ghost, hero or not, would not have gone down well) frowned slightly.

"That sounds fine, Sam, but what kind of distraction do you want me and Tucker to provide? Loud and flashy or subtle?" she asked.

"Subtle. Vlad's a smart guy, and he'll get suspicious if something just blows up or whatever. Actually, I was thinking maybe you could shape-shift or something. You could wear one of the Fenton Phones, hidden of course, and Tucker could help you keep him occupied from the sidelines. As long as you're okay with that..." Sam trailed off. Mimic nodded.

"Nah, that's okay, I can do that. Tucker?" Mimic glanced at the boy questioningly, and he nodded.

"Sounds good. So, we keep him busy somehow, and you and Val get Danny out of there. Got it." Tucker grinned. "Right. Well, Mimic and I should probably get going, shouldn't we?" Sam nodded, and Antoinette morphed back into her ghostly form, jumpsuit and all. She grabbed hold of Tucker's sleeve, and the two of them phased out of the roof and went off in search of Vlad.

* * *

Danny tugged against the glowing restraints on his wrists, glaring up at Vlad all the while. Vlad merely smirked.

"Now, now, my dear boy. You don't really think it would be that easy, do you, Daniel?" he sneered at the teen, who ignored him. Vlad went on talking anyway.

"I suppose your little friends will be here looking for you any moment now, Daniel. Such a nuisance. But I don't think I'll be having any problems with Valerie, at least." Vlad gestured elegantly towards a TV screen. He pushed a button on a remote control, and a video began to play.

_On the screen, Danny saw himself, surrounded by Vlad clones. He saw Mimic and Valerie round the corner, and then he saw Vlad jab the Plasmius Maximus into his side._

_The TV Danny transformed, and fell backwards through the air. He scrambled away from Vlad just as the other ghost swept down on him, gathering the fallen hero up and disappearing into thin air with a victorious cackle. The TV mimic shot forwards with a distressed shout, but Valerie stayed perfectly still, staring at the space Danny had been._

_Mimic was searching desperately for a clue when Valerie made a choking noise, and the ghost turned around, suddenly looking quite sick, the little colour she had draining from her face._

_TV Mimic stared for a few seconds at the shaking ghost hunter, who still said nothing._

_"...Valerie." said Mimic, face grey, eyes a dim, flat green, ghostly glow ba__rely even there. She looked ill._

_The ghost hunter said nothing._

And then the screen went black.

Danny strained against the ropes. "No!" he shouted. But Vlad just laughed.

"I'm afraid so, Daniel. I didn't intend for your little secret to get out, but I'm not sure Valerie will feel the same way. We'll see if your little friends are able to get you out now, hm?"

And Vlad left the room, neglecting to mention that actually, Valerie had accepted the boy, and that his friends were probably on their way at that very moment.

* * *

Mimic smoothed her uncomfortable suit for the fifth time that minute. Tucker had found out that somebody named Marcia Jacobs was coming as a representative of another company that was considering selling to Vlad, and Mimic was now impersonating her. They had considered just overshadowing her, but people had been known to fight overshadowing, and if the real Marcia decided to fight back, it could tip Vlad off to their plan.

Tucker had had to suck her into a Fenton Thermos to get her past Vlad's ghost shield without the halfa noticing, and they had nearly lost Marcia's briefcase, but they had eventually got in. Marcia had been told by her 'boss' (Actually Mimic) that the meeting was cancelled, and was at home enjoying her day off while Mimic did her job for her.

The meeting was only supposed to take ten minutes or so, as it was just signing papers, but Mimic had to make it last at least half an hour to give Sam and Valerie time to get in, free Danny, and get out. Tucker would be helping all three girls via the Fenton Phones and his PDA, making sure that Mimic didn't slip up and Sam and Valerie knew where the security systems were hidden. He hid in a tree on the grounds of Vlad's Wisconsin mansion- Mayor of Amity Park or not, he still spent a lot of time there.

He turned to Mimic, surveying her critically and comparing her to his photograph of Marcia Jacobs.

"You forgot the glasses. But other than that, you're good to go." He told the now blonde-haired young woman. Marcia was in her late twenties, with short, straight hair and a pallid complexion. She was dressed in a dark blue skirt and jacket, with neat black shoes and a white blouse. She was a clever, businesslike woman.

Mimic had spent a good ten minutes trying to copy her voice accurately, as they had no idea whether or not Vlad had met this woman before. When they were happy that Mimic could imitate the woman perfectly, Mimic had sped to the place Marcia's company car was supposed to pick her up, an invisible tucker in tow. They had phased out again briefly to get past the ghost shield, but otherwise the journey had been uneventful.

The car drew to a halt, and Mimic stepped out, squeezing her eyes shut quickly as she reminded herself that it was for Danny.

The front doors of the mansion opened, and she gave the butler a thin smile.

"Here we go." she whispered under her breath as she was led through the mansion to meet Vlad Masters.

* * *

"Sam, Val, she's in. Vlad should be out of the way." Tucker's voice said through the Fenton Phones, and Sam gave Valerie the thumbs up.

"Thanks Tuck. Wish us luck." She replied, and they snuck into the house through the back door (Sam had picked the lock, used to doing the same thing to her own door when grounded by her parents). A couple of months ago, Danny had taken advantage of the fact that Vlad was busy in Amity Park to have a quick look at Vlad's security, and he had found that this door was relatively unprotected, because it was rarely used by anyone but the occasional maid.

Once inside, they cautiously made their way towards Vlad's study, avoiding Vlad's employees as they did so. There were a few hair-raising moments when they were sure they would be seen, but thankfully they got by without incident.

In the study, Sam reached up and grabbed hold of the football statuette. She tugged hard, and the secret passageway to Vlad's lab opened wide.

"Ah, Ms Jacobs. A pleasure to meet you at last." Vlad smiled easily at Marcia Jacobs. They had spoken on the phone, but never actually met one another in person.

"Mr Masters. An honour." She said, reaching out and shaking his hand before taking her seat opposite him.

Vlad gave a gracious nod, all the while keeping one eye on his computer screen. It really was a nuisance that this meeting was scheduled for today, he thought. Those brats would be turning up at any moment to free Daniel, and he couldn't afford to lose the boy again.

"Can I offer you a drink, Ms Jacobs?" he asked, and the woman gave him a thin smile.

"Coffee, if you please, Mr Masters. Black." She said, leaning backwards in her chair slightly. She held back a sigh. This was going to be a long half hour...

* * *

Danny, exhausted, hung in his restraints. He had spent the past few hours desperately trying to get loose, but he was beginning to tire. Eventually he decided to try and save his strength. No matter what Vlad said, he was sure that Sam, Tucker and Mimic would try and rescue him, even if Valerie wouldn't. He shut his light blue eyes with a sigh.

As he did so, the entrance to the lab was suddenly flung open. His head snapped up as he readied himself to deal with whatever Vlad had cooked up for him, but the figure... no, figures in the doorway were quite definitely not Vlad. It was Sam and...

Valerie?

But hadn't he transformed right in front of her?

He decided that he didn't really care much, as long as they were here to get him out. Sam quickly removed the restraints, and Valerie helped him to his feet. He gave them a delighted, but exhausted, grin.

"Thanks." He said as Valerie pulled his arm over her shoulders to support him. "I thought... Vlad showed me this video..."

Sam shook her head. "Oh, Danny. You know we'd never leave you behind."

* * *

Vlad was feeling more and more irritable. This meeting was not going well, as far as he was concerned.

Marcia Jacobs was supposed to just be signing the contract. That was what they had said over the phone. But instead, she was studying it in minute detail, pointing out every loophole and flaw she came across. He had overshadowed her boss into just agreeing to the contract, but evidently his subordinate was not as accepting. And he couldn't overshadow her, as she'd be sure to think something was up if she'd just signed it after spending so long studying it.

Marcia, however, was quite enjoying herself. She and Tucker, with the aid of the Fenton Phones and a tiny concealed camera, were quite happily dissecting the contract between them. It had become a competition between the two: Who could find the most problems in Vlad's contract? Tucker, so far, was winning.

She could feel the irritation coming off Vlad in waves, but she didn't care. The longer she spent stalling, the longer Sam and Valerie would have to get Danny out.

Despite how much she'd been enjoying herself annoying the man, she was relieved when Tucker told her that Danny was out.

With a grim smile, she looked up from the contract. "If I sign this contract, everything in the company that I currently control will belong to you." She sighed. "However, I have been asked to sign it, so I shall, no matter how ridiculous I think it is."

With a flourish, she signed Marcia Jacobs' name over the bottom of the contract. It already had Vlad's signature on, and another which she assumed belonged to Marcia's boss. She handed it back to Vlad, and stood.

Vlad leant back in his chair as he watched the annoying woman finally leave. He glanced at his computer screen, and his eyes widened.

Mimic started to run as she heard him shout behind her. And all hell broke loose.

* * *

_I'd just like to say I have no idea what would actually go on in a business meeting, so I made it all up from scratch. If it didn't make sense, then this is what happened: Marcia controls part of the company. Signing Vlad's contract gives that part of the company to him. Her boss, overshadowed, has already signed the contract, and now Marcia has to, to complete the process. Like I said, I have no idea if that's how things work, but __there you go. Any comments would be much appreciated, as I'm not too happy with this chapter._

_Anyway, please review!_


	11. BreakOut

_Chapter eleven is here at last... later than I promised, I'm ashamed to say. I'm extremely sorry, there was a minor family problem that prevented me from finishing the chapter on time, but both chapter and problem are all sorted now, so no worries! Thanks once again to my reviewers: KittyGrl24 and DPcrazy._

_ Anyway... last time, we had Sam and Val bust Danny out while Tucker and Mimic kept Vlad distracted. Unfortunately, Vlad has noticed his missing 'guest.'_

**CHAPTER ELLEVEN: **_Break-out_

Vlad practically howled with rage as his computer screen brightly informed him that his 'guest' in the lab was missing. Those brats couldn't have chosen a more inconvenient time to break in!

He accessed the security cameras installed around the building to locate his missing prisoner, and noted with a flash of anger that 'Ms Jacobs' was now running at full pelt down the corridor. Then, he spotted Daniel, being rescued by that gothic friend of his and Valerie. Vlad quickly transformed into his ghostly side and flew intangibly through the mansion after his escaping captive.

Marcia Jacobs was not, thought Mimic, built for running. She was the wrong shape entirely. It really was a nuisance that she was forbidden to shape-shift until it was absolutely necessary- absolutely necessary being when Vlad decided to attack her, or when she really had no other choice. Mimic knew that, right now, Vlad was too focused on Danny to be chasing her, and therefore it was not essential for her to transform just yet.

It was at this point that she stumbled on the edge of a rather hideous green and gold rug.

"Forget not transforming." she muttered. And with that, she allowed her real form to take charge, and took off into the air without a second thought.

Danny stumbled, still getting used to movement. Vlad had apparently doped him with something, or he was just incredibly tired, because he was having a lot of trouble encouraging his legs to move in the right direction. Suddenly, an icy blue mist poured out of his mouth. He gave Sam a worried look.

Sam pulled one of his arms over her shoulders and continued, half-dragging him along with her. They were almost to the door when they met Mimic, in all her blue-haired, glowing ghostly glory, flying through the wall just in front of them.

"Hurry up. Vlad knows." Was all the ghost said, but that was all that was needed to have the other three teenagers making a desperate sprint (in Danny's case, more of a clumsy dash) for the door. But it was too little, too late.

Vlad appeared before them before they even came close to freedom. And he looked furious.

"I must admit, I wasn't expecting an escape attempt quite so quickly, Daniel." he said coldly, before turning his attention to the red-suited ghost hunter, currently out of uniform.

"And Valerie. I must admit, I'm quite disappointed in you. I had hoped you would forget all about your silly little alliance with Daniel, but apparently not."

Valerie almost snarled at him. "You can't fool me, _Mr Masters_. Besides, Danny's my friend, ghost or not!"

Vlad ignored her. "And Mimic, am I right? Quite a fascinating little ghost. A full-ghost, willingly helping humans? My, my. What a rarity."

Mimic grinned lazily, and Vlad felt his annoyance go up a notch. "Obviously you don't actually know that much about ghosts, Vladdie. We aren't all bad, you know."

Prickling at being addressed as 'Vladdie' (it reminded him far too much of Jack) he scowled at the ghost. "Really, Ms... Mimic? I suppose impersonating an innocent businesswoman isn't bad at all, then?"

The ghost outright laughed. "Nope. Ms Jacobs is enjoying a nice day off, and we're freeing Danny boy here. I see nothing wrong with that."

Deciding that he probably couldn't coax the other ghost into joining him, he turned his attention back to Daniel. "Well, my boy, I'm impressed you've made it this far. But if you thought getting away from me was going to be that simple, you're quite, quite wrong."

Vlad fired an ectoblast at Danny's feet, and the boy jumped up. Transforming as soon as he hit the ground, he took shakily to the air, and Mimic instantly flew in front of him. Valerie was also in flight, having pulled out her jet sled and flown straight into the fray.

Sam, ectogun in hand was sneaking up behind Vlad, while Tucker was making his way to the Spectre Speeder that had brought Sam and Valerie to the mansion.

Vlad split into four, and sent a duplicate towards each of the fighters (excluding Tucker). Mimic scowled, and fired a heavy blast at the stomach of hers, and it disappeared. Valerie followed her lead, but Sam's ectogun didn't have a strong enough blast. Danny helpfully shot at it.

Danny was then attacked by the real Vlad. He desperately tried to push the other ghost away from him, but to no avail. The others, unable to shoot for fear of hitting Danny, could only watch.

Finally, Danny managed to kick Vlad off of him. The older ghost, winded, went flying across the room, and Sam, Valerie and Mimic took the opportunity to blast him. While Vlad was recovering, Mimic split herself into two, and turned one of them invisible.

The invisible Mimic floated casually through a wall, and then Vlad was up on his feet again.

Valerie reared on her jet sled, avoiding a pink blast from Vlad as she did so. She fired at the half-ghost, but to her dismay, he shielded.

"Come now, Valerie. You didn't expect that to work, did you?"

She scowled."I can't believe I ever trusted you!" she shouted, and fired again. This time the blast clipped Vlad's shoulder, and he gave her a nasty look.

Suddenly, a blast from Sam hit him full-on. "Hey Vlad!" Sam shouted. "Over here!"

Vlad grinned horribly and fired at her, but all he hit was a glowing green shield. Mimic materialised in front of him with a smirk on her face.

Vlad scowled and blasted her, but then _another_ Mimic floated through the wall.

Taken by surprise, his blasts missed their target, instead completely destroying a framed photograph of the Packers. The other Mimic gave the room a thumbs up.

"Shield's down, everybody!" she shouted. "I destroyed the shield generator. Once we get past grandpa here we're good to go."

Danny snickered, and Vlad, looking positively apoplectic, fired a blast at the Mimic-clone. "I'm the same age as your parents, Daniel!" he shouted, as the duplicate dissolved into nothingness.

Valerie and Sam threw themselves back into the fight, but Mimic turned to Danny, and winked. "Danny, you remember what we were practising a few weeks ago?" she asked him slyly, and Danny nodded, grinning.

"Form a shield, but change the shape a little..."

Glowing green ectoplasm formed in Danny's hands.

"Now, let it stabilise..."

Danny concentrated on the ectoplasm in his hands, and felt it cool and solidify.

"That's great! You've done it!" Mimic poked the ectoplasm a little. Apparently satisfied, she grinned. "Okay, now go!"

Danny held the ectoplasmic net in his hands and flew invisibly up to the ceiling, hovering above Vlad. Mimic held up a hand, and he dropped the net over his enemy.

"Fantastic! That should hold him for a while, so let's get out of here."

Danny scooped up Sam and turned them both intangible, ignoring Mimic's mutter of "_Lovebirds_." Mimic grabbed Valerie's arm, and the four of them flew out through the wall. Tucker, who had just arrives in the Spectre Speeder, grinned widely at them.

"What took you so long?" he asked, and Sam gave him a nasty look.

"Well, you could've helped out a bit, you know." she told him, as they phased into the back of the Speeder. Mimic laughed.

"Ah, we could handle it. We needed someone to fetch the Speeder anyway."

Danny grinned at them. "Thanks, you guys."

Sam, Valerie and Tucker just grinned, while Mimic smiled fondly.

"Any time, Danny boy."

_Eh... fight scenes are horrible. This was a hard chapter to write, and I'm not particularly happy with it, but I think it's the best I'll get for now. I might change it later though. _

_If you're wondering about what Mimic meant when she said she and Danny had been practising something a few weeks ago, then go and have a look at the start of chapter four. Please review!_


	12. Saved

_Chapter twelve! Only __one chapter__ left now... I'm glad I'm nearly finished, and at the same time, disappointed. I'll miss writing this... but there is always another story to write, I suppose._

_Anyway, I would like to thank my reviewers, as always: DPcrazy and Sciencefreak330. Thank you!_

_Last time, Danny was rescued by Sam, Val, Tucker and Mimic and he is now headed home. Vlad is not happy, but serves him right._

**CHAPTER TWELVE: **_Saved_

Danny leant back in his seat. "So, how did you guys get me out, anyway?"

Sam grinned. "We sent Mimic and Tucker to keep Vlad distracted. I know they were plotting something to do with someone called Marcia, but that's all. What did you guys do?"

Mimic smiled. "Vlad was meeting some woman named Marcia Jacobs today. I impersonated her boss and told her the meeting was cancelled, and then went in her place. It was a little tricky, because I had to take the company car that arrived for her, and then get through the ghost shield without the driver noticing my disappearances... and by the way, I am never going in that Thermos again. Ugh..." she shuddered, remembering the tiny space. "Seriously, that thing took 'cramped' to a whole new level."

Danny laughed. "I know what you mean. I remember Jazz kept sucking me into it by accident."

Tucker grinned. "Anyway, Marcia was supposed to just sign the contract, but we needed to occupy Vlad a bit longer than that. So Mimic- or Marcia, if you like- was complaining about the contract for ages before she signed it. After that, I'm guessing she met you guys."

Mimic nodded. "Yup. And then during the fight, I duplicated myself and sent one of me to switch off the ghost shield. That reminds me, I have to teach you to do that... Good job with the ecto-net, by the way. I suggest you practice making other stuff too, but you've pretty much got it."

Danny grinned.

"Hey, guys?"

"Yeah?" asked Tucker, who was flipping through a ghost-hunting book left on the seat by Jack.

"Thanks. I mean it."

Mimic laughed. "Ah, Danny. Of course we came to rescue you." Danny smiled widely, and was about to reply, when she added: "Sam would never forgive us if we left you there!"

Sam threw something at the giggling ghost.

"Ah, but you know it's true, lovebirds!" grinned the ghost, turning intangible just in time to avoid a similar assault from Danny.

They arrived back in Amity Park ten minutes after Danny's curfew. Danny and Mimic phased the Spectre Speeder back into the Fenton's lab, and then all five teens, living and dead, phased back out of the house.

Danny turned to Valerie.

"Uh, Val, look, I'm really sorry for not telling you, and the whole incident with the ghost dog, and telling your Dad your secret, I really am. Can you forgive me?"

Valerie grinned. "I already have, Danny. And don't worry, my Dad's sort of okay with it now that you're fighting ghosts with me. I guess he thinks I won't get in too much trouble if I've got two ghosts watching my back."

Danny laughed. "Hey Sam, Tuck, you guys want a lift home?" he asked, transforming.

They nodded. Mimic turned to Tucker, grinning wickedly. "Hey Tuck. I'll take you, and the lovebirds can go off on their own."

Ignoring Danny and Sam's annoyed protests, Mimic looked back to Danny.

"Hey Danny boy, want me to try and talk your parents out of grounding you? I mean, I could turn into Lancer or something and say you were helping out at the school..."

Danny shook his head. "Nah, they might mention it to Lancer and then things would get confusing. But you could take my place sometimes so I can sneak out..."

Mimic laughed. "Trust you. Alright, come on Tuck." she grabbed hold of Tucker's arm and rose up into the air, quickly followed by Valerie on her Jet Sled and Danny and Sam.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Valerie, Lovebirds!" Mimic called, and then flew off towards Tucker's house.

_I had a hard time writing this chapter, just couldn't concentrate for some reason. Still, I'm relatively happy with it._

_Anyway, please review!_


	13. Safe and Sound

_**DISCLAIMER: **__I do____not own and never will own Danny Phantom._

___Chapter thirteen, and the last chapter of Mimicry. I'm sorry it's late- Laptop problems._

___I have to say I'm kind of sad to be finished. I've really enjoyed writing this, and hopefully you've enjoyed reading it too. _

___Last chapter, Danny was home after being kidnapped by Vlad._

**CHAPTER THIRTEEN:**___Safe and Sound_

They were in a secluded part of the park, hidden behind the trees.

Danny was stretched out on the grass, Sam and Tucker were sat a few meters away. They were watching Valerie and Mimic, who were mock-fighting in the air, both to practice and for fun.

"Hey, Sam, Tuck?"

He sat up to face his two friends, and they turned towards him, a questioning look on their faces.

"I know I've already said this, but I'm sorry I didn't tell you about Mimic right away."

Sam smiled. "That's alright, Danny. It all worked out, didn't it?"

Danny grinned, and laughed. "Yeah. Hey, Valerie!"

Valerie paused, and turned her jet sled so that she was facing him.

"Danny?"

"Aren't you tired? You've been doing that for half an hour, and I know Mimic might not care, but you probably do."

Valerie laughed. "It's not too bad, but you have a point. C'mon, Mimic."

Mimic floated down towards Sam and Tucker, Valerie a little way behind her. "Hey."

"Hi, Mimic. Hey, now that everyone's here..."

"Hmm?"

"Thanks again for coming to get me. I know, you wouldn't have left me there, but still."

"Heh. Really Danny, it wasn't a problem. We couldn't leave you to rot at Vlad's, now, could we?"

Danny grinned, and got to his feet. "Come on. Let's go to Nasty Burger, I'm hungry."

Tucker, moping because he was banned from his PDA for being late home, perked up. Sam sighed.

"Honestly Tucker, I don't know how you can eat those burgers. Why not try a nice salad or something? All that meat can't be good for you..."

"Never! I don't understand how you can eat all those veggies. Ugh!"

"Tucker!"

As soon as they arrived at the Nasty Burger, however, an icy blue mist left Danny's mouth, and he heaved a heavy sigh.

"Guys, we've got company..."

Mimic, as Antoinette, turned around, a puzzled look on her face. "Huh? Oh." She said, spotting Danny's ghost sense.

She sighed. "Great timing... alright, who wants to check it out?"

Danny smiled. "I'll do it. I'll call for you if I need any help okay?"

They nodded. "Sure, Danny. Val?"

Valerie grinned. "Ah, I'll go with Danny. I don't really want to spend my day off work at the Nasty Burger."

Sam laughed. "Fair enough. Come on then, you two." They turned and made their way to a table towards the back of the Nasty Burger, and after a few seconds of decision, Sam went up to the counter to order their food.

Danny and Valerie, meanwhile, were already up in the air, scouting for ghosts. It didn't take long before a familiar figure popped up.

"I am the BOX GHOST!" roared a portly blue figure. "BEWARE my CARDBOARD WRATH!"

Valerie turned to Danny.

Danny shook his head, and unscrewed the thermos. "Hey, box ghost?"

"Huh?"

"Beware!" he grinned, and sucked the ghost into the thermos as he turned around.

"Well, that was interesting." said Valerie, putting her ectogun away. "Nasty Burger?"

"Sure."

Mimic grinned at them as they walked through the door, privately thinking that it was astonishing how quickly things returned to normal. Just a day before, Danny had been being held captive in an evil ghost's mansion, and now here he was, chatting with his friends as though nothing had happened.

"Glad to be home, Danny?" she asked, a grin on her face.

"Yup. It's good to be back to normal."

Mimic stared at him. "Normal?"

Danny nodded, giving her a puzzled look. Mimic burst out laughing.

"Sorry, but... Danny, I'm technically dead, you're half-ghost, and we fight evil spirits with a teenage girl on a jet sled. I didn't think normal had anything to do with it."

"She has a point there, Danny." Sam smiled. "Your idea of normal isn't exactly that normal."

Danny grinned. "Ah, you know what I mean. It's good to be home."

Mimic smiled fondly.

"Yup, it certainly is."

There were a few moments of companionable silence.

"Although..." said Mimic thoughtfully.

"What?"

"I was just wondering... I don't think Mr and Mrs Fenton are going to be very pleased that we borrowed all their stuff."

Danny blanched a little as he realised that most of the borrowed weapons had been dumped in his room. "Oh..."

Valerie laughed. "Ah well, Danny. Just as you said- everything's all back to normal. And speaking of normal, Skulker should be here any second."

"What?"

"Just kidding. Hey, everyone finished eating?"

They got to their feet, grabbing their rubbish to throw away and headed out the door. Mimic watched as Sam, Tucker and Valerie each left to make their way home, and walked along side Danny towards FentonWorks.

"It really is amazing that you can get so used to ghost fighting, Danny."

Danny shrugged. "I guess, but there's no one else to do it, really, is there? I mean, Mom and Dad... Well, Valerie once said that they couldn't catch a ghost if it was living under their own roof, and that was before she knew my secret."

"Ouch. But they aren't that bad, you know. I mean... they must catch a few ghosts, right?"

"Not really. I mean, they've got a few of the smaller ones in their lab, but they're more like blobs of ectoplasm with teeth than actual ghosts. Their inventions come in handy though. Even if not always in the way they were intended to..."

"Huh?"

"Dad's ecto-dejecto. It was supposed to weaken a ghost, but it ended up saving Danielle's life when Vlad was trying to melt her."

"Heh. Well, see you Danny."

"Yeah, see you." he smiled and rummaged for his key in his bag, and Mimic went on alone.

Once she was away from FentonWorks, she switched forms to her ghostly self, and took off, being sure to stay out of range of Danny's ghost sense so he wouldn't end up coming to look for her. She landed on top of an office block, looking out over the city.

"He really is a good kid." she mused, spotting the outline of FentonWorks in the distance.

"Fighting for a town that doesn't fully accept him... at least he's not doing it alone now."

She grinned wistfully. "Amity Park, you don't know how lucky you are."

And with that , she floated up off the building and towards the run-down house she'd chosen to haunt. She hadn't been planning to actually stick around Amity Park for long, but...

Danny and Valerie shouldn't have to protect an entire town by themselves. So Mimic was quite definitely here to stay.

___A hard chapter to write, probably because it's the last one. Aw... I'm going to miss writing this._

___Thanks to everyone who has read and reviewed this story, I really hope you've enjoyed reading it as much as I've enjoyed writing it._

___Thank you for sticking with me through this story. This was my first fanfic, but I don't think it'll be my last._

___As always, please review!_


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